Esperanza Health Centers is proud to partner with Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) to establish a family medicine residency program on Chicago’s southwest side. The profound inequities that exist in our neighborhoods require excellence, humility and innovation in everything we do, including how we prepare the next generation of health practitioners to meet the needs of our patients and communities. Esperanza is eager to welcome our RUMC residents to help us transform health care and write a healthier, more equitable chapter for our communities.
The Rush-Esperanza Family Medicine Residency received funding from the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program. Teaching Health Centers (THCs) are community-based primary care training programs committed to preparing health care professionals to serve the needs of the community. By moving training into the community, THCs are on the leading edge of educational programming dedicated to ensuring a relevant and sufficient supply of health workforce professionals. As of academic year 2022-2023 there are over 960 residents training in 72 primary care residency programs across 23 states funded by the THCGME program.
Teaching Health Centers
Most THCs programs operate at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) like Esperanza Health Centers. Research shows that training at a THCs increases the number of primary care residents (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine-pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and geriatrics) that choose to practice primary care in underserved areas with 36% choosing to practice in community health centers versus 2% of graduates of traditional residency programs.
Graduation rates: Comparing Teaching Health Centers and Traditional Graduate Medical Education
| Residents Participating In | THCGME | Traditional GME |
|---|---|---|
| Primary care | 82% | 23% |
| Underserved areas | 55% | 26% |
| Rural Settings | 20% | 5% |
| Community Health Centers | 36% | 2% |
Advocacy is vital to creating changes that will help impact the health of our patients. Faculty member Dr. Thomas Kim and resident Dr. Michael Romero Chung flew to Washington, DC with the American Association of Teaching Health Centers (AATHC) to advocate for HRSA teaching health center graduate medical education programs.
