BILLINGS — The nation has been caught up in a doctor's shortage, with the Association of American Medical Colleges predicting the United States could be short 86,000 doctors by 2036.
Now, Billings physicians say residency programs are more valuable than ever, as residents are likely to stay at their hospital after the program.
Both St. Vincent Regional Hospital and Billings Clinic are working to increase residency opportunities and retain their current residents.
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"Being a resident is actually a really exciting time, because you learn a lot. That first year of residency is a very steep learning curve," said the chief medical officer of Billings Clinic, Dr. Ryan Schwanke, on Thursday.
According to Schwanke, most residents stay within a certain radius of where they do their residency program. Billings Clinic wants to provide a good experience, so the residents will be motivated to come back to Montana.
Schwanke says residency programs are needed in general and specialty medicine.
"Psychiatry in general, but child adolescent psychiatry is hard to recruit. I guess not every physician likes to come to Montana," said Mariela Herrera, the program director of the psychiatry residency program with Billings Clinic.
Billings Clinic has three psychiatric residents, and 10 residents in the main hospital. The hospital does most of its recruiting from the University of Washington but attracts residents from around the country.
The psychiatric center intends to maintain those three residents, with a new class expected to join every year, as Billings Clinic is already feeling the impact of a major shortage.
"It is very hard to maintain services outside of here, the hospital, to do follow-up appointments. Also, we definitely have longer wait lists," Herrera said Wednesday.
Over at St. Vincent's, there's a similar approach, with a focus on general medicine and general surgery residency programs.
"There's a growing shortage of general surgeons in the country. They're talking about thousands and thousands... of surgeons within the next 10 years. And the biggest area that's going to be most affected by that is rural communities," said Dr. Barry McKenzie, a general and trauma surgeon with Intermountain Health, which owns St. Vincent.
St. Vincent's surgical residency program works in collaboration with its sister hospital, St. Joseph Hospital, in Denver.
"I think in a lot of ways, it's only getting worse with time. We're finding a harder time finding physicians. We're having a harder time recruiting," said Dr. Ryan Farris, a hospitalist with Intermountain Health, on Thursday.
But, there is hope on the horizon, thanks to increasing residencies, the Montana Family Medicine Residency program with RiverStone Health, and the addition of Rocky Vista University on the west end of Billings.
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"Please bear with us as we try to figure out what's the best thing for you, and know we're absolutely trying to do the very best we can," McKenzie said Tuesday.
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