San Antonio Institutions Get Millions To Address Doc Crisis

 

shortageTexas Hospital Association President and CEO Ted Shaw said the funds are needed to address the state’s “serious physician shortage” and the lack of adequate medical access that has created.

San Antonio institutions to get millions to help address doc crisis

Scott Bailey – San Antonio Business Journal

Texas Hospital Association President and CEO Ted Shaw says new funding will help address… more

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has awarded nearly $9 million to a handful of San Antonio institutions individually or as part of a collaborative group. The funds are a share of the more than $49 million that will be distributed to nearly two dozen medical schools, hospitals and health systems in the state.

The grants will support the expansion of graduate medical education opportunities in San Antonio and across Texas. They will fund 65 training programs and 224 residency positions in 2016, as well as 459 positions in 2017.

Texas Hospital Association President and CEO Ted Shaw said the funds are needed to address the state’s “serious physician shortage” and the lack of adequate medical access that has created.

THA officials worked with hospital leaders and legislators to secure the funding. Shaw said the allocation is an indication that Texas lawmakers grasp the need to educate more physicians to meet increased demand for care from a growing population.

The funding was made possible as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 18, which has consolidated the state’s general medical education expansion initiatives under a single statute, making grants available that support the maintenance and creation of residency positions at existing and new GME programs.

THA officials said Texas has the fastest growing population in the nation but a lower-than-average physician to population ratio. Some of the more severe shortages include primary care physicians, endocrinologists, psychiatrists, geriatricians and pediatric subspecialists.

Retention of Texas medical school graduates has also become a concern. THA officials said too many graduates of Texas medical schools have to leave the state for residency training, further reducing the number who will ultimately practice medicine here.

Here is a breakdown of the local funding:

  • Baylor College of Medicine/Children’s Hospital of San Antonio: $3.55 million;
  • Texas Institute for Graduate Medical Education & Research/OMNEE/CommuniCare San Antonio: $1.8 million;
  • University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio: $1.54 million;
  • Baptist Health System: $1.2 million;
  • Christus Santa Rosa Health System: $710,000.