Match Day

Student board member Kristina Dakis and former board member Mustafa Alavi, both UIC, both matched family medicine!

 Kristina will stay at UIC and Mustafa is headed to Oregon.

2015 Results

Email your Match stories to Ginnie Flynn

2015 Illinois Family Medicine Residency Program Match Data 

Chicago Tribune Match Day article about Northwestern McGaw residency at Erie Family Health Center in Chicago

2015 Illinois Medical School Match Data - number of medical students at each allopathic medical campus that matched family medicine.  In 2015 8.2 percent of Illinois allopathic graduates matched into family medicine (88 out of 1,067) which is up from 2014's 7.4 percent, but far below the levels we need to boost the future family medicine workforce.  Illinois continues to export many of our students, as only 32 of those 88 matched into Illinois family medicine residency programs.

Link to AAFP Match results and analysis
In total, 3,060 U.S. senior MD, U.S. senior DO, and International Graduate MD students will begin family medicine residencies in July.  This is about one-third to one-half of the number of family physicians we need to train to meet the demands of our growing, aging and increasingly insured population, all in need of personalized primary care services.

The Need

The current population to primary care physician (PCP) ratio in Illinois is 1462:1 is lower than the national average of 1463:1. The 2030 projection stands below the Midwest overall and below the nation overall. Components of Illinois’s increased need for PCPs include 45% (482 PCPs)from increased utilization due to aging, 33% (353 PCPs) due to population growth, and 21% (228 PCPs) due to a greater insured population following the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Projections from the Robert Graham Center predict that Illinois will need an additional 1,063 PCPs to maintain this PCP to patient ratio.  Link to a fact sheet with more information.

Illinois is home to seven allopathic medical schools on ten campuses, along with Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Approximately 1,000 allopathic (M.D.) and 200 osteopathic (D.O.) students graduate each year, yet less than ten percent of these graduating physicians choose family medicine residency programs.  Illinois has 28 family medicine residency training programs spanning the state.  However, Illinois is a net exporter of family physicians. More of our students leave to train in other states and other specialties.  In 2014 more than half of the students who matched into family medicine (34 of 79) entered Illinois family medicine residency programs.  That 79 represents less than eight percent of Illinois allopathic medical students chose family medicine.  The 2014 class at Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine produced 40 family physicians (20 percent of graduates), and half of them (20) entered Illinois residency programs. Nationally the number was only 8.4 percent of U.S. allopathic medical school graduates. 

Training matters in family medicine: 63.3 percent of family medicine residents nationwide stayed in their training state (American Academy of Medical Colleges data), which is the highest of all specialties.  Nationally 62% of male and 65% female family medicine residents stay and practice in the state where they trained. The rates are even higher for FPs who specialize in Hospice and Palliative care
In Illinois 53.8 percent of physicians in all specialties stay in IL after residency training, slightly below the national average.  As a comparison, in California the number is 77.7%, highest in the nation for retaining the doctors they train.  Training more Illinois students in Illinois will help keep more family physicians practicing in Illinois.