Osteopathic Medical Education: To Keep Growing Faster and Smarter

Since the turn of the century, osteopathic medical education (OME) has been the fastest growing segment of the medical education community. The number of colleges has more than doubled to 46 and we now educate more than 38,000 future physicians at 73 teaching sites across 36 states. This is amazing, this is challenging but it is not news.

We’ve seen the trend for years; in fact, our own forecasts show one third of all U.S. medical students will be enrolled in a college of osteopathic medicine (COM) by 2030. We are growing to meet the needs of communities across the nation who are impacted by a physician shortage crisis. Ensuring we are producing the right kind of physician in the right areas. And while growing fast is important and worth celebrating, it’s not enough. More than just throwing numbers at the healthcare challenges our country faces, we must grow in a variety of ways, and we must do this strategically. Fortunately, the OME community is rising to that challenge, too.

Meeting Community Needs With Purpose

When a community came to us searching for a way to revive their local healthcare community and to create a new pipeline of doctors to an area that desperately needs them, the OME community responded. The result was a partnership between AACOM, four COMS, Lackawanna College, the City of Scranton and several regional healthcare organizations to launch the Northeast Pennsylvania Clinical Education Consortium (NEPCEC). Now approaching its second-year anniversary, NEPCEC provides a blueprint for other communities looking to attract medical students and residents. Growing fast and smart.

So, when we thought about some of the challenges of our growing OME community, one that came up was the shortage of professionals with the expertise needed to develop, launch, and sustain Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs—particularly in rural and underserved communities. A well-trained student doctor is just one step in the journey; how do we work to ensure success and access at the next step…the residency level.

Again, thinking strategically and creatively, the OME community launched a collaborative initiative to tackle this challenge. AACOM partnered with the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research to create the AACOM GME Development Fellowship.

The first cohort was made up of 32 fellows representing a diverse cross-section of medical education leaders, including physicians, administrators and academic professionals from institutions across the country. The results from this inaugural effort exceeded our expectations.

Fellows completed 28 capstone projects directly tied to institutional GME development. The fellowship also contributed to four ACGME Sponsoring Institution accreditations, and fellows collectively secured $2,457,000 in federal and state grants. Seven new clinical and educational partnerships were formed, and two new residency programs were launched—with over ten additional applications actively in development.

The Power of a Connected Community

Moreover, the multiplier impact has been remarkable. Fellows from this cohort are now leading or consulting with GME Technical Assistance Centers nationally and in Missouri, North Carolina, and Virginia. One fellow’s virtual workshop series on GME administration, which originated through the fellowship, is averaging around 150 participants per session. Additionally, fellows are mentoring subsequent cohorts and representing AACOM at national stakeholder meetings.

On surveys sent to the cohort, 12 noted that their projects directly contribute to rural GME growth. Eight reported advancing osteopathic medicine and community-based residency development, and every respondent cited national networking and mentorship as the top-value outcomes.

We look forward to sharing more details of the success with colleagues, both at our upcoming Educating Leaders conference and at AAMC’s Learn Serve Lead, where the program will be doing a poster presentation.

This program is another perfect example of how we, as a community, can continue to grow fast but do it in a way that is beneficial and sustainable. The bond our OME community has is something to be proud of and something to cultivate. It will allow us to keep playing an ever-growing role in the advancement of health care for our patients and for our country.

Robert A. Cain, DO
AACOM President and CEO