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Efforts Underway to Recruit Inaugural Class of Residents
Recruiting the first class of Internal Medicine residents at Baptist Memorial Hospital – North Mississippi will follow a slightly different course from most established programs due to the pending Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accreditation.
While BMH-NM submitted a new program application to the ACGME in May 2020 and the organization completed a site review in September 2020, there is still a waiting period to receive the final accreditation decision from the ACGME Review Committee. The Baptist North Mississippi program approval is included on the committee’s agenda during their meeting in late January 2021. With the approval of a new program comes the issuance of an identification number, a requirement to be included in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) listing. According to preliminary data from the ERAS website, over 48,000 residency and fellowship candidates have applied to training programs through ERAS in the 2021 season.
Receiving accreditation at the end of January would allow the Baptist North Mississippi Internal Medicine residency program to be included in the ERAS listing by February and subsequent participation in the National Resident Matching Program’s (NRMP) 2021 Main Residency Match. According to the NRMP website, each year applicants vie for over 34,000 first-year positions through the Match in a process that culminates on Match Day – March 19, 2021.
As the final phase of accreditation moves forward, Baptist North Mississippi’s Internal Medicine residency program is taking direct applications, hosting Town Hall informational sessions, and scheduling interviews through January. This allows applicants ample time to learn more about the curriculum, faculty, hospital, city, and more, just as they would with an established institution. Once they are ready to make their decisions, potential residents who feel that Baptist North Mississippi would be an ideal fit for their training should be able to include the program in their rank order list in the Match system by the March certification deadline.
To apply for the program prior to its listing in ERAS and The Match, applicants may complete the online form on the BMH-NM Internal Medicine residency website: https://bmme-imresidency-northmississippi.org/How_to_Apply. To refer a potential resident, please have them contact Emery Newsom, Program Manager, at [email protected].
While it is true that the application and interview season for this program may look different from others, there are also plenty of similarities. Potential residents are still able to receive a glimpse into the plans for daily resident life just like any other organization. Program leaders gladly share didactic schedules, rotation plans, facility highlights, details about living and working in Oxford, and the overall benefits of joining a well-established system like Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. Town Hall dates will be hosted throughout the coming months and include introductions to program faculty and leadership, information about and a tour of the hospital, question and answer sessions, and more. These are open for both virtual and limited in-person attendance. To register, please e-mail [email protected].
Genuine enthusiasm surrounds the efforts of the Baptist team to bring the first medical residents to Oxford, Mississippi. There are many program ambassadors who would love to share more details about the plans to build the future of medicine in North Mississippi.
Sneak preview inside a new program
At Baptist Memorial Hospital – North Mississippi, an exciting future waits just on the horizon. As preparations are underway to welcome the first class of Internal Medicine residents to Oxford, Mississippi, this is the perfect time to offer a sneak preview behind the scenes of our new program and the community that supports it. The highlights are many, but our physicians, administrative support, hospital facility and team, and community create an ideal opportunity for physicians of the future.
Strong connections among the faculty existed prior to their involvement in building a medical residency, as many of the physicians have been colleagues for years. Their relationships have grown deeper through the planning sessions, development events, and other activities around the program in the past few months. Newcomers to the program and to the community have quickly been welcomed as part of the family.
Hospital and Baptist system administrators continue to lend unwavering support in the development of the first medical residency in Baptist North Mississippi’s history. From local leadership up to Baptist Memorial Medical Education, the commitment to bring a new training opportunity to Oxford has been substantial. While the Internal Medicine program at BMH-NM will be new, our affiliation with BMME’s robust resources and well-established organization means that we are not alone.
The training environment at Baptist North Mississippi will be second to none. The brand new 217-bed facility opened in November 2017 and offers state-of-the-art equipment, the latest technology, beautiful surroundings, and an outstanding team of professionals.
Last but not least, the city of Oxford, Mississippi, serves as a stunning backdrop to this training program and medical community, as well. It is one of the most desirable locales in the region to call home and draws many residents of diverse backgrounds and walks of life.
Perhaps the best way to see for yourself the wonderful plans we have in the works is to view our showcase video, or better yet, come see for yourself!
Grant funding awarded for development of Internal Medicine residency in Oxford
Baptist Memorial Hospital – North Mississippi received $749,000 in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant funding for the development of an Internal Medicine residency program in Oxford, MS.
The hospital was the recipient of a Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) grant as part of the HHS mission to increase access to quality care in rural community. The program’s goal is to develop a stronger health care workforce through the establishment of rural residency programs.
“This grant will support critical resources for us to uphold the mission of our residency program, which is to train medically knowledgeable, clinically competent, and procedurally capable internal medicine physicians who provide high quality, safe, cost effective, and patient centered care to the patients of North Mississippi,” said Dr. Seger S. Morris, Program Director of the BMH-NM Internal Medicine residency program.
Baptist North Mississippi is one of only six full-access hospitals in a twelve-county service area. Of the hospitals in the area, Baptist North Mississippi’s bed size is the largest and the hospital offers access to the most number of specialties. According to data provided by the Mississippi Hospital Association, 68% of patients served by BMH-NM in 2016 were either Medicare (50%) or Medicaid (10%) patients, or the hospital was uncompensated for their care (8%).
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi advocated for the release of the funds.
“These grants will allow immediate- and more long-term work to expand rural access to care in Mississippi,” Hyde-Smith said in a prepared statement.
Dr. Morris and other program representatives from Baptist North Mississippi participated in the RRPD Program Annual Meeting virtually and learned more about the grant program’s support structure, requirements, and personnel. It also offered a networking opportunity between the program grantees.
“The RRPD program is proving to be an indispensable resource as we develop our residency, and we look forward to working with their team for years to come,” Dr. Morris said.
Read more about the initiative
