NEW RURAL RESIDENCY + REGIONAL MEDICAL SCHOOL CAMPUS SET TO LAUNCH IN 2025
by Courtney Huber, MS, University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, and University of Minnesota Medical School communications
Plans to foster a pathway toward the training of new rural family physicians are steadily becoming reality.
A new medical school campus in St. Cloud—a partnership between CentraCare and the University of Minnesota Medical School—will expand the University’s medical school footprint to Central Minnesota for the purpose of training medical students to serve rural communities across the state. Happening simultaneously is the creation of a rural-training-focused residency program in Willmar.
The proposed medical school campus and residency program comprise a remedy for the looming physician shortage that is predicted to hit rural communities hardest.
- More than one third of rural providers plan to leave the workforce by 2027 (Minnesota Department of Health).
- While 20 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural communities, only 11 percent of physicians practice in such areas (Association of American Medical Colleges).
This expansion of training and education will help fill a gap that many communities are already experiencing. “We need more primary care physicians in all communities, particularly in rural areas across the U.S.,” said Shailey Prasad, MD, MPH, FAAFP, Associate Vice President for Global and Rural Health at the University of Minnesota and Vice Chair of Education for the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, who has been leading the charge to launch rural residency training tracks across Minnesota.
Prasad continued, “We need the multifaceted brilliance of family doctors because they can address inpatient and outpatient care needs for all patients across the spectrum, from birth to maternity care to senior care.”
NEW RURAL FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENCY IN WILLMAR
The University of Minnesota CentraCare Willmar Rural Family Medicine Residency is planning to begin training residents in June 2025, pending approval by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
Led by family physician Richard Wehseler, MD, the Willmar residency will follow a 1:2 format, with residents spending the first year at the University of Minnesota/CentraCare St. Cloud Hospital Family Medicine Residency for inpatient and specialty rotations and years two and three in Willmar, with training specifically focused on developing the necessary skills for practice in a rural area (including emergency medicine, rural obstetrics, rural procedures and broad-spectrum outpatient care).
In a newsletter circulated to CentraCare employees, Wehseler shared his excitement for the new program and its potential to grow the rural primary care workforce: “By training in the region, young physicians will be able to integrate into the communities and see firsthand the value of living and raising a family in rural Minnesota.”
Prasad added, “We know that residents, generally, practice close to where they train. So, it’s important to add the context of rural life into the training of the next generation of family physicians.”
The goal is to grow more rural training programs across Minnesota that will be attached to existing family medicine residency programs.
Keri Bergeson, MD, family physician and board member of the national Rural Training Track (RTT) Collaborative, a consultative group that advises rural sites on training programs, recently joined the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health to spearhead these conversations.
Planning is already underway for a program that will be based out of Grand Rapids and be a partnership between Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital and the University of Minnesota Woodwinds Hospital Family Medicine Residency.
ST. CLOUD REGIONAL MEDICAL SCHOOL CAMPUS
In early 2022, CentraCare approached the University of Minnesota Medical School with the desire to expand their educational relationship with the University by opening a regional campus in St. Cloud for undergraduate medical education. This new regional campus will be the first expansion of the medical school in more than 50 years and allow for an increase of 10 percent in the overall class size.
The St. Cloud campus and program will build on the experience and knowledge the University has gained through its rural and Native American health focus in Duluth, with a more targeted focus on rural and immigrant health, which will serve an important role for the communities of Greater Minnesota.
CentraCare, with its network of hospitals and clinics, will provide the clinical clerkships needed for a class of up to 24 medical students. This relationship presents a brand-new model of educational affiliation by offering this clinical capacity for student learners. It is a unique model: a private health care system partnering with a public medical school to open a regional campus, with a commitment from the health system to fund its operations and costs above the amount earned through tuition.
The University’s Board of Regents gave final approval for the new campus at their December 2023 meeting. Pending full approval of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in spring 2024, the Medical School’s CentraCare regional campus in St. Cloud will welcome its first class of students in 2025, building to a full program with 96 students four years later.
