06/05/2026
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In the latest newsletter from Georgia Higher Education Healthcare Initiative, the Archbold Internal Medicine Residency Program was recognized their use of the Rural Residency Planning and Development Program award from Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) in 2022.
As mentioned in the article, originally planned to center on family medicine, the program pivoted. Working through a no-cost extension that stretched the grant over four years rather than three, Archbold redirected the award to internal medicine, a change that ultimately better matched the region's workforce gaps and Archbold's growing clinical infrastructure.
The core use of those funds was direct complement growth. Archbold's internal medicine residency program began with a total complement of 15 residents (five per year) and used the HRSA investment to expand to eight residents per year, bringing the ACGME-accredited complement to 24. That is three additional training slots per year, in a region where every retained physician represents a genuine community health gain.
The more forward-looking element of the grant's legacy may be the primary care track now embedded within the internal medicine residency. Designed to identify applicants early and educate them specifically for outpatient or blended inpatient-outpatient practice settings, the track addresses one of the most persistent structural gaps in rural healthcare: the shortage of physicians willing and prepared to practice in community-based, non-hospital settings. Archbold's first resident entering the primary care track does so this July, a proof of concept that is already becoming a pipeline.
To learn more about Archbold’s residency program, please visit https://www.archbold.org/employment/career-paths/internal-medicine-residency/.