CHI Health Good Samaritan and Creighton University partner to combat staffing challenges

OMAHA & KEARNEY, NEB. — CHI Health and Creighton university School of Medicine will offer residency programs to give new graduates experience on the field in both urban and rural areas of Nebraska. 

According to a news release, the program is created to increase access to health care in theses underserved communities and also to fight the shortage of health care specialists. 

The program offers hybrid rural tracks for internal medicine residents and psychiatry residents.  Their residency training will be spent half at CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center- Bergan Mercy in Omaha and the other at CHI Health Good Samaritan in Kearney. 

“The need for physicians practicing internal medicine and psychiatry continues to grow in our rural communities,” said Dr. Cary Ward, CHI Health Chief Medical Officer. “As the largest healthcare provider in Nebraska, CHI Health is proud to partner with Creighton University on these rural track programs to train great physicians - many of whom we hope will continue to serve these communities in the years to come.”

Although rural track programs are not new, these hybrid programs are. The CHI and Creighton say they are not only the first of their kind in Nebraska, but they are the first in the country to gain the designation as an accredited rural track program by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

The program is now open to applicants, and the first will be selected in March 2023.