Georgia expands medical school seats

Georgia’s latest physician-workforce push is taking shape in Savannah, where state funding, a medical school campus and a new residency pipeline are being tied together around one goal: keep more doctors in the Coastal Empire. WTOC reported on August 5 that the expansion is aimed at doctor shortages in southeast Georgia and is built around training students locally through medical school and residency. Georgia ranks 40th in physician workforce, according to the report, and studies cited there project the state could be short more than 8,000 doctors by 2030. ### Why is Savannah central to this expansion? Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia already has a four-year Savannah campus, with 40 students per class, and the school says it operates as a cooperative effort with St. Joseph’s/Candler and Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong Campus. That matters because the Savannah effort is not starting from scratch; it is layering residency capacity onto an existing local medical-school footprint. (newsbreak.com) In July 2024, Augusta University opened the new Medical College of Georgia Savannah campus and said 41 first-year medical students would complete their full four-year training there. David Hess, dean of the Medical College of Georgia, said at the time that the campus depended on St. Joseph’s/Candler’s long-running role in clinical education. ### What exactly is St. (augusta.edu) Joseph’s/Candler adding? Georgia lawmakers approved $20 million in the amended state budget to expand medical residency programs in coastal Georgia, and WSAV reported in March that about $16.7 million of that total would go to St. Joseph’s/Candler. Hospital leaders said the money would support 103 new residency positions over five years. St. Joseph’s/Candler said in April that its first accredited program is internal medicine and that the broader buildout is intended to reach 103 residents by 2031 across internal medicine, family medicine, cardiovascular disease and general surgery. (jagwire.augusta.edu) The health system said the inaugural internal medicine class will begin July 1, 2027. (wsav.com) ### Why are officials focused so heavily on residency, not just medical school seats? Paul Hinchey, president and chief executive of St. Joseph’s/Candler, told WSAV that residency slots are the key retention point. “If you can do that, 75% of them stay in the state and the location where they did their residency,” he said. St. Joseph’s/Candler made the same case in its April announcement, saying limited residency opportunities had forced coastal Georgia medical students to leave the communities where they studied. (sjchs.org) Hinchey said the new program is meant both to reduce that outflow and to improve local access to care. ### How local is the placement strategy? (wsav.com) WSAV reported that hospital leaders expect graduates from the Savannah expansion to practice not only in Savannah but in nearby communities including Hinesville, Effingham County, Jessup and Statesboro. The health system also said residents will train at Candler Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital and a community health center at the Georgia Infirmary. (sjchs.org) The Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce says the state’s physician data is tracked with an emphasis on geographic distribution because of Georgia’s large rural footprint. That framing helps explain why state and hospital officials are presenting the Savannah plan as a regional workforce project, not only an admissions expansion. (wsav.com) ### What happens next? July 1, 2027, is the next concrete milestone: that is when St. Joseph’s/Candler says its first internal medicine residency class will start. Prospective residents can already find program information through the health system’s residency site, while additional family medicine, surgery and cardiology training tracks are slated for later years. (sjchs.org) (healthcareworkforce.georgia.gov)