HCA enters training partnership with U.S. Army

SOURCE: The Nashville Post

AUTHOR: Kara Hartnett

HCA Healthcare has developed a partnership with the U.S. Army Medical Recruiting Brigade to provide specialized training to all of the Nashville-based health care system’s graduate medical education programs and help recruit young doctors.

HCA leaders say they plan to phase in the training program — which covers subject matter like infectious disease control, mass casualty response and emergency trauma — to all of the 241 GME programs it offers. These programs comprise about 4,000 residents and fellows and the company plans to double that number by 2028.

In turn, the Army gets a hefty recruitment opportunity to capitalize on its financial support benefits.

“More often than not, incoming residents of our programs have an average student debt of $200,000,” Bruce Deighton, vice president of graduate medical education at HCA, said in a press release. “The Patriot Partnership Program not only creates pathways for our residents and fellows to become physicians and officers within the military, but also enables them to gain the financial support they may need while they continue their training and serve our country.”

Word of the Army partnership comes amid a physician shortage (as discussed in this podcast) and shortly after HCA leaders announced the acquisition of Galen College of Nursing. According to company spokeswoman Harlow Sumerford, the company boasts the largest GME program in the country.