Silver City, New Mexico February 15, 2023: Hidalgo Medical Services (HMS) is continuing its efforts to reopen the Family Medicine Residency Program (FMRP). The program was closed on August 31, 2022, due to the resignation of the program’s required physician faculty. However, HMS continues to be an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited Sponsoring Institution. A Sponsoring Institution is the organization that assumes the ultimate financial and academic responsibility for a residency program consistent with the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education Requirements.

With the reoccurring departure of eight (full and part-time) faculty members over ten years, HMS had no option but to close the program in 2022. Before the required closure, the two third-year residents graduated in July of 2022, and the remaining residents were assisted with relocation to another residency program to complete their second and third-year program requirements.

The HMS FMRP was a 1+2 program in which, during their first year, the residents completed most of their educational requirements at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces under the leadership of Dr. John Andazola, the Program Director with Southwest New Mexico Family Medicine Program. The second- and third-year residents completed their education primarily at HMS and with clinical rotations with local community providers. When the decision was made to close the program, Dr. Dan Otero, HMS CEO, contracted with Dr. Oliver Hayes to serve as the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) and Dr. John Andazola to serve as the Program Director (PD). Each of these individuals provides the required program leadership to maintain the ACGME Sponsoring Institution accreditation while HMS continues its permanent faculty recruitment efforts and movement towards reopening the program.

To successfully run an accredited 1+2 program in rural New Mexico, HMS FMRP must have a DIO, PD, and one to two additional faculty members. The PD and required faculty must be Board Certified in Family Medicine. Don Stephens, MD, one of HMS’ Board Certified Family Medicine physicians, is now the program’s Site Director. HMS has received emergency funding support from the New Mexico Human Services Department to assist HMS in its efforts to recruit the needed faculty to reopen the program. HMS has also partnered with the New Mexico Primary Care Training Consortium (NMPCTC) to prepare an application to be submitted to the New Mexico Graduate Medical Education (GME) Expansion Grant Program. The GME grant funding, if received, will provide the needed financial support beyond June of 2023 to continue recruitment and program development efforts. The HMS FMRP operations team hopes to fill all required positions to accept its first cadre of residents in July of 2025.

With the national projections of a physician shortage of 23,640 primary care physicians by 2025 (National Institute of Health, 2020), and with a current physician shortage of 328 in New Mexico (UNM Health Sciences Center, 2021), HMS understands the importance of family medicine residency training programs in New Mexico. “We are committed to re-establishing our program and working hard to do our part for New Mexico,” stated Dr. Dan Otero, HMS CEO.

HMS is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that provides primary care, behavioral health, dental, family support, and senior services in both Hidalgo and Grant counties. HMS provides integrated Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)-accredited, patient-centered medical home (PCMC) services to over 16,000 unduplicated patients with over 70,000 visits annually. The health center employs approximately 235 individuals who work tirelessly to serve our local communities and the region with high-quality healthcare services.