Phoebe, 榴莲视频 Sign Historic Partnership Agreement
Collaboration aims to improve access to care and advance health equity for southwest Georgians through education, research and community initiatives.
By Lucille Lannigan, The Albany Herald
ALBANY, GA 鈥� Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital System and 榴莲视频 made history Monday by signing a partnership that will transform southwest Georgia health care.
Leaders from Phoebe and 榴莲视频 gathered in Albany Monday to sign a memorandum of understanding outlining a collaboration to improve access to care and advance health equity for southwest Georgians through education, research and community benefit initiatives. The agreement aims to establish a regional MSM campus and new residency programs in various specialties at Phoebe. It also will provide clinical training for 榴莲视频 students and residents at hospitals and clinics throughout the Phoebe Health system.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to change health care outcomes for southwest Georgia by who we educate and train and how we educate and train them,鈥� MSM President and CEO Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice said. 鈥淭hat includes creating opportunities for young physicians to receive exceptional training in communities where they can have the most impact.鈥�
Dr. Montgomery Rice said the partnership is committed to recruiting students from the southwest Georgia community, exposing students early on to healthcare profession opportunities.
鈥淚f we can recruit students from this community, we can guarantee that about 65 to 70% of them are going to come back and practice in this community,鈥� she said.
榴莲视频 is a historically Black medical school and one of the nation鈥檚 leading educators of primary care physicians.
鈥淲e talk a lot about the nursing shortage, but the shortage of physicians is just as severe,鈥� Phoebe President and CEO Scott Steiner said.
He said this shortage of physicians is particularly acute in small urban and rural areas like those that make up southwest Georgia.
鈥淲e have to address that now. 榴莲视频 does an incredible job of graduating and training talented physicians, many of whom stay in Georgia,鈥� Steiner said.
MSM had a 63% overall retention rate of graduates remaining in the state upon finishing their education at the school as of 2017.
Not only is the Phoebe/榴莲视频 partnership placing an emphasis on the physician shortage but also Georgia鈥檚 maternal mortality crisis, which is one of the worst in the U.S. Georgia鈥檚 maternal mortality rate is about 34 deaths per 100,000 live births. In southwest Georgia, the number of deaths bumps up to 40. For Black women, the problem is worse. There were about 49 pregnancy-related deaths for Black women per 100,000 live births in Georgia from 2018 to 2020, according to the state Department of Public Health.
鈥淲e need to see a change in that outcome,鈥� Dr. Montgomery Rice said. 鈥淲e believe those possibilities begin here in southwest Georgia.鈥�
Phoebe and MSM will develop plans to enhance student and workforce pathways as well as recruitment and retention strategies to incentivize students, residents and healthcare workers to practice medicine in the region once their training is completed. The institutions also will develop a Research Hub to increase funding and expand clinical trials that will primarily focus on projects to address critical needs outlined in Phoebe鈥檚 Community Health Needs Assessments.
Phoebe already has welcomed MSM students for elective rotations at the hospital. Currently, all third-year 榴莲视频 students focusing on pediatric medicine complete core rotations at Phoebe, training in the hospital鈥檚 neonatal intensive care unit. In November, a resident in MSM's obstetrics and gynecology program began training at Phoebe for a year. Another will arrive later this year for a year-long stay, while other MSM obstetrics and gynecology residents will rotate through for shorter training stays.
Amissa Sei, a second-year resident in the OB/GYN program, said being in Albany and working with Phoebe has been a great learning experience that is sculpting her into a better health care professional.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been great to have direct, one-on-one learning opportunities,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his has been a great opportunity to learn leadership skills and in terms of, like, different care mechanisms for the different class patients.鈥�
Phoebe and MSM have been working together for years, leading up to the historic partnership. The two institutions partnered with Project Elevation, a program that educates primarily Black men about the importance of prostate cancer screenings. It provided about 1,000 free screenings at churches throughout southwest Georgia.
鈥淭hat served as a foundation for really acclimating us to the community,鈥� Dr. Montgomery Rice said, 鈥渟o that we could become more culturally competent and aware what the community concerns were.鈥�
Phoebe and MSM also worked together on a Nurse Family Partnership program, which pairs a Phoebe nurse with a first-time mother before and after delivery to ensure the family has access to the health care and resources that they need for a healthy birth and child development. So far, around 100 mothers in the program have given birth, and Phoebe is working on a plan to double the number of women who can be in the program at any given time from 75 to 150.
Through a long-time partnership with Albany State University, MSM set up an undergraduate health science academy program that identifies students with an interest in medicine early on. It created a pipeline for ASU students to do monthlong rotations with Morehouse School of Medicine on various subjects such as pediatrics or emergency medicine.
Phoebe and MSM will establish an executive committee to oversee the partnership efforts. Steiner and Rice will co-chair the committee, which also will include additional representatives from their respective organizations as well as local community members.
There also will be a steering committee that will meet monthly to track and enhance progress toward shared goals of the partnership. Some of the overall objectives include:
- Addressing critical healthcare needs and improving wellness, health outcomes and access to health care
- Increasing the diversity of health professionals and scientific workforce
- Advancing treatment options and care plans
- Advancing research and innovation.
Dianna Grant, the Phoebe Health System鈥檚 chief medical officer, will co-chair this steering committee. She said the structure of the new partnership will make southwest Georgia a medical model that others will marvel at.
鈥淚f you are a member of this community, this is your hard work,鈥� Grant said. 鈥淭his is your tax dollars. This is your commitment. The most important thing is I want you to join all of us in making these learners feel welcome.鈥�