888-765-5400Blue Cross Grant Promotes more Family Doctors
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation on Wednesday announced a $1.18 million grant to the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians for a mentoring program to help address the shortage of family physicians in the state.
With the grant, the academy will increase medical students’ exposure to innovative practice in family medicine and encourage more of the state’s medical students to pursue a career in family medicine.
Health officials have worried that the newly passed health care reform bill will increase the number of patients in the state who are insured and can seek regular primary care.
Blue Cross said North Carolina now has about 2,700 family physicians, with projections indicating the need for 2,000 more by 2020. The slow growth of family physicians in the state will only meet about 75 percent of the projected need.
The grant supports the establishment of the Family Medicine Interest and Scholars Program. Its aim is to increase the percentage of medical students who commit to a residency in family medicine by about 30 percent and the percent of those who elect to stay in the state for their residency training from 56 percent in 2008 to at least two-thirds over the length of the six-year program.
Of the first 11 students identified for the program, one is from Wake Forest University School of Medicine — Brian Sanders of Greensboro.
Posted by The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area Wednesday, June 2, 2010
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