Siouxland family medicine practice and residency program to become part of UI Health Care
Change will maintain local access to care and training of family medicine residents.
University of Iowa Health Care plans to assume operations of a large family medicine practice and residency program in Sioux City, pending Board of Regents approval to lease the facilities.
The family medicine practice, located at 2501 Pierce Street and owned by Siouxland Medical Education Foundation, has over 25,000 patient visits each year. It also houses the only family medicine residency program in western Iowa.
“This location provides much-needed, local primary care services to the Siouxland community,” says Jeff Quinlan, MD, chair and departmental executive officer of family medicine at UI Carver College of Medicine. “It also plays a vital role in producing family physicians who go on to practice in the state. We’re willing to step up and continue operations so Iowans have more care options, not less.”
Like other community-based residency programs, the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation has experienced financial pressures in recent years.
“We’ve seen two other community-based residency programs in the state close in the past three years,” says Quinlan. “These closures have significantly reduced the number of family medicine physicians produced in the state at a time when we need them more than ever, which is why it’s so important we maintain the viability of the Siouxland program.”
UI Carver College of Medicine has had a long-standing collaborative relationship with the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation, and many of its family medicine residents have trained at the location and gone on to practice in the community and the state.
“Educating and training the next generation of Iowa’s health care providers is a critical piece of UI Health Care’s mission,” says Quinlan. “As the need for physicians in the state continues to grow, it is essential to maintain and expand existing residency programs to retain physicians in the state and increase access to care.”
