The Bothwell Regional Health Center has received a grant for nearly $1.1 million from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Residency Planning and Development Program. Funds will be used to create a single site for Bothwell’s three Sedalia family medicine clinics as well as for medical student and resident teaching At Bothwell’s Healing Arts Center.

Bothwell’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Phil Fracica said the grant application was made in coordination with the University of Missouri School of Medicine and is a continuation of efforts between Bothwell and the university to increase the number of family medicine physicians serving rural and under served Missouri.

In 2017, Bothwell received $40,000 in salary support to be a rural Training Track site for third-year medical students assigned to the health center for their core clinical training. In 2018 the University of Missouri received a $1 million grant from HRSA over three years to start a Rural Family Medicine Residency program, the first of its kind in Missouri. MU selected Bothwell as the first site for the program and the first two resident physicians started in July of this year.

In 2019, Bothwell was chosen as the community partner to collaborate with MU to develop a new curriculum for third-year medical students. Bothwell received additional funds for that initiative as well as for facilities improvements at the hospital that support medical student lectures and conferences.

Photo courtesy of Bothwell Regional Health Center