The Internal Medicine Residency program at Freeman Health System has been granted accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The Freeman program is the first and only in the area to receive this status. Freeman is now reaching out to graduating medical students interested in enrolling in the program in the summer of 2017.
“It was no easy task to accomplish this accreditation, and it’s proof that our program has met the highest standard,” said Dr. Robert McNab, Freeman Internal Medicine Program Director. “We were evaluated on everything – the administration, the faculty, available resources and the safety of our patients and residents – to ensure quality care and learning.”
The ACGME accreditation will allow osteopathic and allopathic medical school graduates to train in the internal medicine residency program at Freeman, significantly increasing the pool of potential students.
“It can be difficult to recruit new physicians in a smaller town,” said Dr. McNab. “By building on our current residency training program, we will begin to reverse that trend. That is because one of the primary drivers of where physicians practice is where they complete residency training.”
The Internal Medicine Residency program enables medical school graduates to complete the final phase of their medical education. A maximum of 15 residents are recruited through a national process that matches medical school graduates with residency programs around the nation.
As residents advance, they gain increasing independence and autonomy, culminating in the opportunity to take their medical board exams and become fully licensed, practicing physicians. Some will go directly into internal medicine practice while others will go into fellowships for specialties.
As a teaching hospital, Freeman provides medical students and resident doctors the opportunity to study with some of the most knowledgeable and dedicated physicians in the country. Freeman sponsors graduate medical education training in four residency programs: Emergency Medicine; Ear, Nose, and Throat (Otolaryngology/Facial Plastic Surgery); Internal Medicine; and Psychiatry.
About Freeman Health System
Locally owned, not-for-profit and nationally recognized, Freeman Health System includes Freeman Hospital West, Freeman Hospital East, Freeman Neosho Hospital and Ozark Center – the area’s largest provider of behavioral health services – as well as two urgent care clinics, dozens of physician clinics and a variety of specialty services. For 2017, Freeman earned dozens of individual awards for medical excellence and patient safety from CareChex®, a quality rating system that helps consumers evaluate healthcare providers. U.S. News & World Report ranked Freeman one of the top Hospitals in Southwest Missouri more than four years in a row, and the Leapfrog Group awarded Freeman the highest grade possible in the Fall 2016 Hospital Patient Safety Score. With more than 300 physicians on staff representing more than 60 specialties, Freeman provides cancer care, heart and vascular care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopaedics, children’s services and women’s services. Additionally, Freeman is the only Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in a 70-mile radius. For more information, visit freemanhealth.com or facebook.com/freemanhealthsystem or follow Freeman President and Chief Executive Officer Paula Baker at twitter.com/freemanceo.