Archbold Residency Program Receives Accreditation

Thomasville, GA---Archbold Medical Center’s new Internal Medicine Residency Program has received initial accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The program, which will participate in the 2021-2022 National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), is recruiting for its first class of five residents that will start July 1, 2022.

The development of this residency program is an effort to train and retain physicians in South Georgia. “Medical Education has always been a focus at Archbold. This program will take us to the next level as a teaching hospital and in being able to provide the needed care to our community and surrounding areas,” said Darcy Craven, President and CEO.

South Georgia has a shortage of primary care doctors, and the new residency program will focus on training and recruiting physicians who will stay in the area to practice. Residency programs are important to communities, especially in rural and underserved areas because physicians are more likely to stay and practice within 60 miles of where they completed their residency training. This program allows the region to grow its own physicians, rather than recruiting from outside the area. This medical training program will have significant economic impact, as well, in Thomasville. As the residency program begins producing physicians, the estimated economic impact is over $1.5 million per new physician and the creation of five new jobs supporting the physician.

The program is structured as a 5-5-5 program, training 5 residents each year for three years. By July 2024 the program will reach their full complement of 15 Internal Medicine residents at Archbold. The program will be led by Dr. Kristopher Palmer, Program Director and Dr. Raul Santos, Associate Program Director. “I am proud to be part of the leadership of this new residency program,” said Dr. Kristopher Palmer. “To be able to train young physicians in rural medicine who will likely become part of our physician workforce is something that allows me to not only give back to the next generation of physicians, but also to the community that has given so much to me and my family.”

Prior to earning initial accreditation for the internal medicine program, Archbold Medical Center had to apply and receive ACGME accreditation as a sponsoring institution which oversees the educational and financial needs of any programs developed. Receiving that designation July 2021, development of the internal medicine residency program was given the greenlight. “Our residents will have the opportunity to help shape Archbold into a premier teaching hospital, working one-on-one with physicians and all others of the healthcare team,” said Dr. Coy Irvin, Chief Medical Officer and Designated Institutional Official at Archbold. “The medical staff, administration and board have been nothing but supportive through this development, and I look forward to the future of medical education at Archbold.”

“I am proud of this progress achieved at Archbold and see growth and opportunity on the horizon for this hospital and community,” said Darcy Craven, Archbold President and CEO. “As we welcome our first class of internal medicine residents this July, I know this community will embrace them just as they did with my family and I almost two years ago. By investing in graduate medical education, we are not only investing in our future physicians, but also in the future of Archbold and our community.”

For more information on the program, please visit https://archbold.org/internal-medicine-residency or call Savannah McGowan, MHA, Director of Physician Education at 229.551.2575.