The University of Central Florida announced a five-year deal with the country’s largest for-profit hospital chain to train doctors after graduation, with the hope that those slots will mean as many as 550 doctors will stick around Florida to practice medicine.
Initial residency programs will be in internal medicine, family medicine and OBGYN. Doctors who graduate medical school can’t immediately see patients; rather, they must then do residency and fellowship programs after graduation.
Public funding for residency programs hasn’t kept up with the number of new doctors graduated each year. This deal between UCF and Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) will address that bottleneck.
Cities that will get new residencies include Orlando, Gainesville and Ocala. If successful, the new deal could also mean more doctors trained in Florida practice medicine in Florida.
Statistics show doctors tend to practice medicine in the cities where they did their residencies. Check here for more.
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