March 15, 2007

ILLINOIS FAMILY MEDICINE CONTINUES STEADY CLIMB

Match results for Illinois family medicine continued showing signs of improvement.  According to NRMP, Illinois Family Medicine Residency Programs filled 91.3 percent (137/150) of available positions, an increase from 86.7 percent in 2006.  Illinois fill rates were higher than the East North Central regional average ( Illinois , Indiana , Michigan , Ohio and Wisconsin ) which filled 84.2%.  Most Illinois programs filled many slots before the match or during the scramble and will enter the weekend with all their positions filled.

Illinois residency Match fill rates have increased each year since filling 77.4 percent in 2004.  However, some programs have reduced their number of residency positions offered this year.  

“As Illinois strives to improve our state’s health with more preventive care and the stability of medical homes for patients, we will need more family physicians here to meet those needs,” said Kathleen J. Miller, MD, IAFP president and assistant director of the Southern Illinois University – Decatur Family Medicine Residency Program.  “We are excited that our residency programs are finding medical students who share their vision for providing high quality health care to families in the communities they serve.”  

More family physicians bodes well for patient care

Growing evidence supports that an increase in the number of primary care physicians results in better quality health services at lower cost for the population.  AAFP adopted its workforce policy in 2006 to identify the number of family physicians that should be produced by 2020 in order to produce and prepare the physician workforce best equipped to provide the type of care that the nation states that it wants and needs.  That report indicates that Illinois will need a 28 percent increase in family physicians by 2020 to meet growing patient population needs.  The optimum ratio is 41.6 family physicians per 100,000 persons.

Preliminary information available from the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) indicates that the 2007 national fill rate for family medicine residency programs is that 2,313 positions filled out of 2,621 positions offered (88.2%). This represents an increase in the percentage of family medicine residency positions filled through the NRMP over 2006. [Included in this category are family medicine-psychiatry and internal medicine-family medicine programs.] However, 106 fewer family medicine positions (3.8%) were offered in 2007 compared with 2006.

Link to results, charts and analysis at the AAFP web site’s Match section at http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/residents/match.html

Program results by region and state:  http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/residents/match/fillrate.html

2007 Illinois Family Medicine Residencies
Match Results

City Program # of Slots Matched #Filled Outside Match % Filled Total
Aurora Rush-Copley 4 4 100%
Belleville Belleville 6 6 100%
Belleville U.S. Military 8 8 100%
Berwyn MacNeal 9 9 100%
Carbondale SIU-Carbondale 4 4 100%
Chicago Cook Co/Loyola Provident 8 8 100%
Chicago Jackson Park 5 1 2 60%
Chicago Mount Sinai Hospital 5 5 100%
Chicago Northwestern Affiliated 5 5 100%
Chicago Resurrection 6 4 2 AOA 100%
Chicago St. Elizabeth 6 6 100%
Chicago St. Mary of Nazareth 8 8 100%
Chicago Swedish Covenant 6 6 100%
Chicago U of I at Chicago 6 5 1 pre-match 100%
Chicago UIC/Illinois Masonic 7 7 100%
Decatur SIU-Decatur 5 5 100%
Dixon U of I Rural Track 2 2 100%
Glenview McGaw 4 4 100%
Hinsdale Hinsdale 9 5 4 100%
LaGrange LaGrange Memorial Hospital 7 7 100%
Oak Lawn UIC-Christ 7 7 100%
Park Ridge Lutheran General 8 8 100%
Peoria U of I/Methodist Medical Ctr 10 9 1 100%
Quincy SIU-Quincy 6 4 2 AOA 100%
River Forest West Suburban 8 5 3 100%
Rockford U of I at Rockford 6 6 100%
Springfield SIU-Springfield 8 8 100%
Urbana Carle Foundation 5 0 5 100%
Programs Totals: 178 156 20 98.9%
National Match Rates 2621 2313
US Seniors 2621 1107
IL NRMP Results 150 137