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Study quantifies KUSM–W's high outcomes: more primary care docs Researchers at George Washington University and the Robert Graham Center used the American Medical Association's master file to identify the specialties and locations of physicians who completed their residency between 2006 and 2008. Nationally, only 25 percent of the doctors went into primary care, and less than five percent located in rural, underserved areas. The Wichita campus far exceeded those national averages. Nearly half its residents went into primary care, and nearly 20 percent established practice in a rural area. And it gets better. More of the school's residents went into under- served areas designated as "health professional shortage areas" than any other institution. For producing doctors in those areas that are most in need, KUSM–W is a standout. "It's not only that we produce primary care docs for the state," says Rick Kellerman, M.D., who oversees the family medicine residency programs at Via Christi, Wesley Medical Center, and the Smoky Hill program in Salina, Kan. "It's that we produce physicians who are going to the rural areas in desperate need of a local doctor." School officials have worked with communities to place graduates in less-populated areas of Kansas. "We still have work to do," Kellerman says. "We get calls all the time from hospital administrators, from physicians looking for partners, and from community recruiters looking for family docs." "The other part of this is the quality of the people we're training," Kellerman adds, noting that residents in all three family medicine programs score well above average on their in-service exams. A statewide partnership Kellerman says the medical commu- nities in Wichita and in Salina, Kan., deserve much of the credit for the quality and quantity of the primary care doctors who learn and train at KUSM–W. "It's a real community- wide effort and partnership," he says. And while residency training is funded primarily through the federal government, Kellerman says state policymakers can also make a difference. "There is a correlation between the amount of debt our students have and the specialties they pick," he explains. Controlling the growth of medical school tuition and supporting the Medical Student Loan Program, which is offered to graduates who practice outside the state's larger cities, are important to keeping the pipeline of primary care providers flowing. Kellerman also credits the Smoky Hill residency program in Salina, created by the state Legislature in 1977, Rick Kellerman, M.D., chair of KUSM–W's Department of Family and Community Medicine Rick Kellerman, M.D. as instrumental to supplying doctors for rural Kansas. Success confirmed Though KUSM–W's No. 6 national ranking is a nice affirmation for all those who make it possible, it came as no surprise. "It confirms what we already knew," Kellerman concludes. "This school is succeeding in its mission to provide for the medical needs of Kansas." ''It's not only that we produce primary care docs for the state. It's that we produce physicians who are going to the rural areas in desperate need of a local doctor.'' ''Being sixth in the nation is gratifying, but we won't stop there. Our work isn't done.'' Of the nation's institutions with more than 200 graduates, we rank sixth. Of the 105 counties in Kansas, 89 are medically underserved. 4 5