Program in collaboration with Stony Brook Medicine is the first of several planned Graduate Medical Education residency programs at Mather
(Port Jefferson, NY) John T. Mather Memorial Hospital will welcome its first medical residents in July for an Internal Medicine Residency Program that will help address the projected growing shortage of doctors and increased demand for primary care physicians.
The program will stress primary care and is the first of several planned medical residencies at Mather Hospital under the new Graduate Medical Education (GME) Program. Residencies also are planned in Family Practice Medicine, Psychiatry and Transitional Year.
Mather was notified on January 29, 2014 by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education that the program received initial accreditation, the highest level of approval given to a new program. The residency is sponsored by Stony Brook Medicine. Frederick Schiavone, MD, Stony Brook’s Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education, worked closely with Mather leadership in developing the program. It is approved to accept up to 19 resident physicians for the first year of the three-year training program. A new group of residents will be accepted into the program each year.
“I’ve been confident that we would receive accreditation as expected due to the excellence of physicians, nurses, leadership and staff at Mather Hospital,” said Lucien Cardinal, MD, Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program.
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“We will be working with the new residents to improve collaboration, forming teams with nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists and dietitians to bring the quality of care to the highest level,” said Michael Tofano, MD, Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program responsible for oversight in inpatient areas. Dr. Tofano also is Director of the Hospitalist Service at Mather.
“It has been such a great pleasure working with the entire team on this project. This is an exciting time for Mather,” said Joan Faro, MD, Mather’s Chief Medical Officer, who has been instrumental in establishing the GME Program. “Our program will provide a nurturing and learning environment for our resident physicians and will emphasize the importance of primary care in the creation of population health.” The Office of Medical Affairs will oversee the Internal Medicine Residency Program. The GME Program eventually will be housed on the second floor of the new Arthur & Linda Calace Family Pavilion, scheduled for completion in July 2015.
A recent study by the Healthcare Association of New York State found that more than 1,200 doctors are needed statewide, one third of them in primary care.
With the recent implementation of the Affordable Care Act, projections indicate that the number of New Yorkers who will be covered by health insurance will increase by 1.2 million people, significantly adding to the demand for primary care physicians. At the same time, large numbers of our community members are entering their retirement years, a time when healthcare utilization dramatically increases.
“We believe some doctors who completed their residencies at Mather will choose to stay and practice in our beautiful community and become the care providers for our families and neighbors,” said Mather President Kenneth Roberts.
For more information on the Internal Medicine Residency Program call 631-686-2517.
Mather Memorial Hospital is an accredited 248-bed, non-profit community hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high quality healthcare services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion and respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones.
For further information about Mather Hospital, visit www.matherhospital.org or “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/matherhospital.
