Being surrounded by large tertiary care hospitals could have been a challenge for many community hospitals. But Larkin Community Hospital in South Miami not only has a thriving patient base but is performing better than many of its competitors in embracing innovation and benefiting from many health care reform initiatives specially those related to education.

 

Larkin has focused its transformation vision on its commitment to Post Graduate Medical education by becoming a teaching institution through the implementing a Graduate Medical Education program in partnership with NOVA South Eastern University (NSU) and developing residency programs in Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Podiatry, Internal Medicine, and Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine. Additionally, residency programs in dermatology and palliative care have recently been granted approval while several other programs are in various stages of the approval. Through this rapid expansion of its graduate programs Larkin expects to become a statutory teaching institution within the next couple of years. “We want to train the next generation of physicians” stated Sandy Sosa-Guerrero, Chief Executive Officer.

 

Furthermore, Sosa states, “Larkin Community Hospital will honor its Commitment Statement for Graduate Medical Education, providing the necessary resources to guarantee the effective implementation and support of quality residency programs in compliance with the AOA and the ACGME Institutional Program Requirements and Specialty-Specific Program Requirements. Our mission is to prepare physicians capable of providing compassionate, comprehensive and continuous health care to patients and families and we encourage our graduates to practice in medically underserved communities and areas of critical need in our state of Florida when they complete their training.”

 

In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the granting of a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant to Larkin Community Hospital and NSU’s medical school were recently awarded a 5-year federal grant to educate medical residents to provide expert care for patients living in rural and underserved communities. The (HRSA) grant will be used to develop training programs for NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine’s affiliated medical residency program at Larkin Community Hospital in Miami. Lasting between three to five years, medical residencies are required training for medical school graduates to become board-certified physicians. Larkin Community Hospital currently has close to fifty approved slots for residents receiving Post Graduate Training. The HRSA grant will create curriculum and clinical training in medically underserved communities, which include rural and urban areas where physicians and medical services are scarce.

 

The funds will also be used to develop training in other areas such as all hazards preparedness, genomics, and medical informatics. One of the grant’s goals is to encourage more primary care residents to become practicing physicians in these underserved areas. Research has shown that medical schools who receive this grant have produced more doctors who end up practicing in such areas.

 

Strength of the facility’s focus on education is its strong partnership with its community partners which include several area hospitals, three Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), and a network of community clinics that offer comprehensive primary and specialty care. The FQHC benefit greatly from having the hospital residents rotate through its sites to augment the medical care provided at the clinics while the hospital has a more extensive network to provide care and support to its patient base and the community.

 

Not surprisingly, Larkin has been designated as an Area of Critical Need facility, a Health Professions Shortage Area (HPSA) and a National Service Corps (NSC) site by the Health Resources and Services Administration. This designation allows for access to resources that support student training, practice development and funding for critically needed services and most importantly allows the hospital to participate in the student loan repayment program which allows certain level of write off of student debt if work is completed at a NSC approved site.

 

With its emphasis on innovation, education, and community partnerships, Larkin Community Hospital is well on its way to become a statutory teaching facility that will improve quality and patient care throughout its community.