Organizations and providers throughout the state are working to address the impacts of the current workforce shortage . Hospital mergers — or the combining of hospitals or hospital systems — including the recent Vandalia Health merger , provide benefits to both health organizations and the patients they serve .
“ Mergers enable hospitals to improve clinical care , lower costs , upgrade facilities and offer new and higher quality services ,” Kaufman says . “ Hospitals and health professionals have long worked to improve patient outcomes and lower provider costs by reducing fragmentation in the delivery of health care . Mergers can be the most effective means to accomplish these goals .”
New facilities , including the WVU Medicine Children ’ s Hospital , have opened , meaning West Virginians can now access care in-state rather than having to travel to larger areas .
“ The new WVU Medicine Children ’ s Hospital will not only allow services that previously went to Pennsylvania , Ohio or Maryland to stay in West Virginia , making it easier on families , but it will help grow services that will in turn help recruit providers and researchers , which translates into greater opportunity in the future ,” Kaufman says .
The state ’ s three medical schools are focusing on addressing this issue through training and resources .
For example , the Marshall University Joan C . Edwards School of Medicine has established programs focused on creating a clear pathway to medical school for West
Virginia ’ s top-performing high school students , minority students and Marshall undergraduates .
The school has nearly doubled its residency and fellowship positions . As of July 2022 , there are 260 residents and fellows training in 25 different specialties at the university — the most in the school ’ s 40-year history . This year , nearly half of the school ’ s graduating class was matched to residency programs in West Virginia .
“ This is significant because we know that physicians who train here are more likely to ultimately practice here ,” says Bobby Miller , M . D ., interim dean at Marshall University Joan C . Edwards School of Medicine .
The West Virginia University ( WVU ) School of Medicine offers the largest quantity and specialty variety of graduate medical education training opportunities in the state , currently offering more than 55 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-approved residency programs and fellowships .
At WVSOM — the state ’ s largest medical school — nearly 200 new physicians graduate each year , and , as of 2019 , 850 graduates were practicing in West Virginia , according to President James Nemitz , Ph . D .
“ We know there ’ s a scarcity of health care workers in the state ; in fact , it ’ s one of the reasons WVSOM was created ,” Nemitz says . “ Fifty years ago , our founders recognized a growing need for doctors in West Virginia , and the school has worked hard to live up to the expectations established by those visionary medical leaders .”
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