Arkansas needs more doctors, but there haven’t been enough residency positions for new medical school graduates in the past three years, a study by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement found.
According to Talk Business and Politics, the ACHI study released Wednesday found the gap hit its high point in 2021 when there were only 309 residency positions for 431 graduates. The gap has narrowed somewhat since then. In 2022, there were 408 graduates, but only 341 residency positions were available. In 2023, there were 356 residency positions for 401 graduates.
The four prior years, there were more residency positions than graduates. In 2020, there were 264 graduates and 289 residency positions available for them. There were 163 graduates and 280 residency positions in 2019. In the prior two years, there were 159 graduates and 223 residency positions in 2018, and 160 graduates and 210 residency positions in 2017.
The number of medical school graduates increased from 160 in 2017 to 401 in 2023 because of the opening of the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Smith.
Classes at the new Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville are expected to begin in 2025, creating even more of a need for new residency programs.
Medical school graduates who don’t have a slot must leave the state to continue their training.
Read more at talkbusiness.net.
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