Phoenix-based Banner Health and Tucson-based University of Arizona Health Sciences are launching a statewide initiative to expand primary care graduate medical education.
The effort — backed by grants from the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation — aims to create nearly 200 new residency positions across Arizona over the next three years.
The University of Arizona Health Sciences will work to add 50 primary care residency slots in high-need communities. It also plans to offer three-year medical school-to-residency programs that connect graduates directly to primary care GME sites and to launch a new group to help healthcare organizations gain accreditation for residency programs.
Banner Health will add 144 family and internal medicine residency positions through 2028 at the following sites:
- Banner Desert Medical Center (Mesa)
- Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center (Sun City)
- Payson Family Medicine (Payson)
Beyond adding slots, Banner plans to invest in new technologies to enhance training and expand urban-rural rotations. It will also fund stipends and data analysis to support faculty, track outcomes and boost long-term physician retention in Arizona.
Arizona currently meets just 35.4% of its primary care physician needs and would require nearly 2,000 additional full-time equivalent physicians by 2030 to meet growing healthcare demand statewide, according to an Oct. 24 news release.
“This investment will catalyze the formation of a sustainable, statewide infrastructure for graduate medical education, while meeting the immediate needs of Arizona’s communities,” University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella, said in the release. “The U of A and Banner’s collaboration for new residency opportunities in rural and underserved areas ensures future physicians will be trained where they are needed most and will remain to serve those communities.”
