Hospital Corporation of America’s South Atlantic Division and Coliseum Medical Centers is announcing the launch of graduate medical education training programs. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Institutional Review Committee has granted initial accreditation for Coliseum to provide internal medicine and psychiatry residency and fellowship opportunities to medical school graduates in July 2017. The programs are enhanced through an academic affiliation with Mercer University’s School of Medicine. Mercer University will provide faculty support, research opportunities, medical libraries, and simulation support.
 
The development of these new programs are result of a broader national commitment to creating best-in-class residency programs across the country by HCA. The programs at Coliseum are a part of an investment made by HCA to establish 150 new residency and fellowship programs over the next years, adding 2,500 new physician-training positions in 17 states.
 
Lance Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Coliseum Medical Centers, said, “Coliseum Medical Centers is proud of our new partnership with Mercer University’s School of Medicine.  As a community-based, academic medical center, residents will receive training from the most experienced specialists in middle Georgia. The goal of this program is to develop highly qualified physicians with hopes that they continue practicing right here in our community.”
 
Dr. John Lucas, Vice President for Graduate Medical Education, HCA South Atlantic Division, said, “The United States is facing a worsening physician shortage and many experts expect that by 2025 we will be short more than 90,000 physicians and providers. What is even more concerning is that there are just not enough residency slots in the nation for the number of medical school graduates every year. The development of quality residency and fellowship programs is paramount to ensuring that we, as a nation, have the capacity to care for our communities for decades to come.”
 
Coliseum Medical Centers intends to recruit 10 internal medicine residents and four psychiatry residents to begin in Coliseum’s new programs July 2017.  The hospital plans to add 10 additional internal medicine residents each year for a total of 30 residents and four additional psychiatry residents each year for a total of 16 residents. The programs will incorporate a variety of experiences that allow residents to focus on inpatient, specialty, and ambulatory patient care experiences. Additionally Coliseum plans to add residency positions in family practice and emergency medicine as well as a transitional year program in subsequent years with the goal of offering 100 residency positions by 2020.
 
“Among our most pressing health care challenges is ensuring an adequate supply of well-educated heath care professionals to meet the needs of people in this region,” said Mercer President William D. Underwood. “I could not be more pleased that Coliseum Medical Centers is joining with other leading hospitals around the state to address the urgent need for more quality residencies. These new residencies, coupled with the quality residencies at Navicent, will build on the momentum that already exists as we work together to make Middle Georgia a destination for patients seeking the highest quality health care.”