MSU-CHM Special Program Outcome Study

Authors: Zachary Jodoin, MSU CHM medical student; Ada Pariser, MSU CHM medical student; Andrea Wendling, MD, Julie Phillips MD, Julia Terhune

BACKGROUND: America has 3,438 medically underserved areas and populations (MUA/MUP), and over 7,000 Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA), most within rural regions. To address this, many medical schools, including Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine (MSU-CHM), have developed programs geared towards training students to serve within these underserved areas. We aim to study how these programs influence career choice and geographic distribution of graduates, as well as track academic progress of graduates accepted through mission-support admission programs.

OBJECTIVES: By studying the outcomes of multiple admission pathway and enhanced curricular programs designed to advance the goals of a community-based medical school with a mission to meet community need, we will identify programs or combinations of programs most likely to impact rural and underserved care delivery, informing strategies to further address the healthcare needs of underserved populations, especially in rural America.

METHODS: We created a merged dataset from the 2016 AMA Physician Masterfile Database, NRMP match reports, and internal college data for 1972-2015 MSU-CHM graduates. Internal college data included participation in any MSU-CHM program developed to advance the school’s mission of educating physicians responsive to underserved community or population needs. Each graduate was tracked from admission through residency match and eventual practice location and all data was verified with internet searches. Graduates who participated in underserved mission programs were compared with all other graduates using comparative statistics and logistic regression. Outcome variables included primary care residency match, primary care practice, rural practice, practice in HPSA or MUA.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS: We will analyze 4477 graduates. Just over 11% (499) participated in underserved mission support programs. We anticipate that these students will be more likely to be practicing primary care, practicing in rural communities, and practicing in HPSAs or MUAs/MUPs. We also anticipate mission-fit program students are successful in our academic programs.