Valley Health System to add residency programs

By Jackie Valley

Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 | 5:25 p.m.

The Valley Health System announced today that it would add eight residency programs in Southern Nevada — a move that could help ease the region's physician shortage.

The medical trainings will be based at Centennial Hills, Desert Springs, Spring Valley and Summerlin hospitals for and including programs in emergency medicine, family medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedic surgery, psychiatry and a transitional/internship year.

"It's an exciting time to have two new medical schools opening in Southern Nevada," Karla Perez, regional vice president of the Valley Health System, said. "Our goal is to be the continuum, which trains futures doctors and then recruits them to remain in the area."

After completing medical school, newly minted physicians must enter a residency program for additional training in their specialty area before practicing on their own. Many physicians practice in the region they completed their residency, hence the importance of having graduate medical education programs in Southern Nevada.

The hospital system also announced that Dr. Andrew Eisen, current president of the Clark County Medical Society, has been named chief academic officer and will begin in early January. Eisen, a former state assemblymember, was most recently medical director for the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at Touro University Nevada.

Officials expect the residency programs for family medicine, internal medicine and general surgery to begin in July 2017. It's unclear when the others will become operational.

They're not the only residency programs in local Valley Health System hospitals: Valley Hospital offers residencies in internal medicine, family medicine, neurology and orthopedic surgery. The hospital also runs fellowship programs — post-residency training for subspecialties — in gastroenterology and pulmonary/critical care.

The residency and fellowship programs at Valley Hospital have graduated 142 physicians since their creation in 2006. Of those doctors, 53 percent stayed in Nevada to practice.