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Supporting Georgians
A Strong State Needs a Strong Healthcare Workforce
Our Mission
Welcome to Georgia Higher Education Healthcare Initiative, a leading open-source project dedicated to fostering innovation and collaboration in health policy. Our vision is to break down silos and establish partnerships among academic, industry, and public stakeholders to develop strategies that address healthcare development in the state of Georgia.
The Georgia Higher Education Healthcare Initiative’s recommended strategy to significantly improve the number of MDs who practice in Georgia is to:
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Better leverage Medicaid as a funding source for GME (GA is outranked by nearly every other state using Medicaid GME funding as a mechanism to grow residencies). Note that Medicaid GME funding should not be confused with Medicaid expansion.
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Organize and facilitate information sharing and learning from other states’ better practices among academia, appropriators, hospitals, FQHCs, practitioners, and others to report on where residencies can grow, in what amounts, and of what kind. Georgia cannot grow only primary care physicians, and to serve the rural areas, Georgia must have the right mix (and distribution) of specialists and subspecialists to meet rural Georgia’s growing health needs. There are also urban healthcare needs that need to be addressed.
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Facilitate a different “culture” in Georgia medical education to (i) significantly improve clinical GME experiences and education in Georgia clinical settings and (ii) encourage and incentivize physicians to remain in Georgia for GME.
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Consider admission and contractual strategies as other states have done.
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Better market residencies in Georgia for Georgia’s MDs and DOs.