MSU will join various university and community health institutions to form the Michigan Center for Health Education Training in the Communities, using a $5 million federal grant.
The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aims to improve health care for the medically under-served in Michigan.
"The main goal is for more health professionals to go to these under-served areas," said Dr. William Wadland, chairperson of the Department of Family Practice at MSU and the project director.
State and federal governments designate certain areas where the population-to-physician ratio is very low or a large percentage of the population is under-insured or uninsured as "medically under-served areas."
More than three-quarters of Michigan's counties - 62 out of 83 - are considered partial or complete medically under-served areas by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis.
"The Bush administration has almost tripled the amount of funds to programs like these," Wadland said. "It is sort of their answer to some of the rising needs."
The new health care service combines resources from MSU's Colleges of Human Medicine, Nursing and Osteopathic Medicine, the Geriatric Education Center of Michigan and the School of Allied Health at Ferris State University with various community health organizations.
Under the new program, medical students at MSU who spend their final two years of training in communities will be required to spend time at some of these medically under-served areas, said Dr. Peter Christensen, chief resident of family practice at Sparrow Hospital.
Christensen works with MSU medical students in their training at the hospital.
"Our residents will be going to these centers, spending time in them, taking care of patients, learning, interacting," Christensen said.
The goal is to introduce medical students to these centers in hopes they will return to them after they're done with their training, he said.
Students can also receive up to $50,000 in loan repayments for practicing at one of the centers.
"It's very satisfying practicing at these places," Wadland said. "The people are barbers in small towns or painters who own small businesses, or they could be graduate students who don't have any insurance."
The project will establish a program office at MSU's Department of Family Practice and then develop three regional area health education centers across the state.
The MSU center will provide special rotations for residents, nursing and pharmacy students in community health centers, Wadland said. It will also develop a new tele-pharmacy consultation service to electronically connect providers with pharmacists.
Wadland said similar programs have worked wonderfully in other regions of the country, including New York and North Carolina.
"I used to practice in one and I really liked it," Wadland said. "I almost didn't leave."
