The Fox Valley Family Medicine Residency Program will transition from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH) to a consortium of healthcare institutions consisting of ThedaCare, Ministry Health Care (which includes Affinity Health System) and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“We have an active, vibrant and supportive healthcare community,” said Daniel E. Neufelder, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Ministry Health Care. “This residency program closely aligns with our commitment to enhance the community’s overall health and well-being, and we look forward to playing an even larger role in the training and development of future physicians.”
“The Residency Program has had a strong and successful history, but it was governed by leadership in Madison,” said Dean Gruner, MD, President and CEO of ThedaCare. “We will be able to expand the number of resident slots in the program, which will meet increasing demands and looming primary care doctor shortages. We could add other opportunities at ThedaCare and Ministry Health Care including rural training options. The local leadership will better serve the needs of the program and the patients we care for in the Fox Cities.”
As of July 1, 2015, the consortium will assume responsibility for both the educational mission of the Fox Valley Medicine Residency Program and its clinic at 229 S. Morrison St. in Appleton. The program is accredited to train both osteopathic and allopathic (D.O. and M.D.) physicians. There are 18 residents in the program; six graduate each year.
“We at the Medical College of Wisconsin are honored and enthused to join ThedaCare and Ministry Health Care in a consortium directing the Fox Valley Family Medicine Residency Program,” said Kenneth Simons, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin's senior associate dean for graduate medical education and accreditation. “This opportunity emphasizes the importance of community-academic partnerships that address the specific needs of the local health care programs. As a new member of the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals, the Fox Valley Family Medicine Residency Program also will draw on the resources and expertise of 10 eastern Wisconsin health systems and organizations providing training to more than 800 physicians in residency and fellowship training.”
The Fox Valley Family Medicine Residency is a program of the University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine, established in 1980 as a joint educational effort with the local health and business communities for the purpose of training family physicians for the rapidly growing Fox Cities communities. St. Elizabeth Hospital and Appleton Medical Center serve as sponsoring teaching hospitals for the residency program. In 2013 the program graduated its 31st class of residents and its 180th resident. More than 60 of the residency graduates are currently or have practiced in the Fox Valley and rural communities.
“It is critically important to the future health of our state that Wisconsin strengthen and expand residency programs in primary care,” added Robert Golden, MD, dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. “Strong programs, such as the Fox Valley Family Medicine Residency Program, should be embedded in and supported by their communities. Local control of health care programs by the communities they serve is a great model, and we support the transition of the administration of this program to ThedaCare and Ministry Health Care, together with their new partner, Medical College of Wisconsin.”
“We are pleased the Fox Valley Family Medicine Program will continue to train outstanding family medicine physicians for Wisconsin and offer high-quality health care services to the Fox Valley. We look forward to intensifying our focus on other initiatives which will address the needs of underserved rural populations in our state.”
Lee Vogel, MD, residency campus director and faculty with the program for 24 years, said she looks forward to the new administrative structure. “Partnership with our local health systems will commit us to focusing even more on the health of our community and our region in ways that will better serve our physician trainees and patients,” Dr. Vogel said. “Having a more diversified portfolio of collaborators will be the key to success for the residency in the midst of a changing health care landscape.”
About ThedaCare
At ThedaCare, the 6,000-plus employees are committed to providing patients with seamless high-quality care across specialties and departments all while delivering a better value. ThedaCare focuses on each patient, developing personalized care plans addressing everyone’s unique health needs. Our integrated system is recognized nationally for its ability to deliver high-quality care at the best cost. Consumer Reports recently named ThedaCare Physicians as the best in Wisconsin at offering cancer screening tests to patients, providing care for people over the age of 60, and treating patients with heart disease. The Wisconsin Health Information Organization also ranked us as No. 1 in the state when it comes to providing the best care. ThedaCare is also continually listed among the nation’s Most Wired healthcare providers thanks to our technical advances and our electronic medical records that link our medical providers and partners together.
Based in Appleton and community owned, ThedaCare includes Appleton Medical Center, which is home to the ThedaCare Cancer Center and the Appleton Heart Institute; Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, which is home to the area’s only Level II Trauma Center and Children’s Hospital of the Fox Valley; New London Family Medical Center; Shawano Medical Center; Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca; 22 ThedaCare Physicians clinics; ThedaCare Orthopedic Care; ThedaCare Behavioral Health; ThedaCare At Work; ThedaCare At Home; and The Heritage and Peabody Manor Community, which provides customized senior living choices and hospice care.
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