Report: University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford plans to add 5 residency programs

ROCKFORD, May 18 — According to a Rockford Register Star story, the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford plans to add five residency programs that would provide a pipeline of physicians for the region’s health care employers. 

“If all goes according to plan, the implications for the local economy are enormous. More than 12,000 people are employed by Rockford’s three health systems. Right now, the college operates a family medicine residency program in partnership with SwedishAmerican Health System that employs 21 resident physicians at any given time. The college aims to establish five more residency programs to address a regional and national demand for doctors in emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, internal medicine and psychiatry. Doing so could increase graduate enrollment at the college by 150 students a year, said Dr. Alex Stagnaro-Green, who became the school’s dean a year ago.

And because residency programs are often subsidized by Medicare, the addition of five more residency programs in Rockford could funnel some $15 million into the local economy.”