The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education

Overview

Location:  Scranton, Pennsylvania 

Website: http://www.thewrightcenter.org/

Residency Programs: Internal Medicine

Description: The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education (WCGME) is a 501 (c) (3) not for profit corporation which is the fully accredited ACGME /AOA sponsoring institution for a 34-year old flourishing, community based Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program in Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA). As a testimonial to its community-driven mission governance, WCGME is proudly recognized as the most significant primary care manpower renewal force in NEPA: WCGME has graduated 152 primary care physicians and currently has 54 internal medicine residents. All inpatient services and ambulatory teaching sites are highly responsive and relevant to the communities they serve as well-recognized, nondiscriminatory safety net providers. WCGME ambulatory centers are established inter-professional primary care workforce training environments academically affiliated with numerous institutions of higher education and have a fully integrated, 2011 meaningful use certified electronic medical record /practice management system. These sites are successfully engaged in the PA-Governor's Office of Health Care Reform's nationally recognized Chronic Care Model/Practice Transformation Initiative and have 2011 NCQA Level-3 Patient Centered Medical Home designation. "The Teaching Health Center Highway to Community Relevance of GME" is a HRSA designated WCGME Teaching Health Center Consortium initiative which expanded our primary care residency program by 6FTEs in 2011 with expected annual increases for our three year training program by 18 FTEs in 2013. HRSA designation as a GME Teaching Health Center consortium has enabled new WCGME learning environment development at two partnering FQHCs, Wayne Memorial Health Centers and Scranton Primary Health Center. All WCGME Teaching Health Centers are actively participating in the PA Improving Performance in Practice 2011 Residency/Community Health Center Medical Home Collaborative.

Program History

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education (WCGME) is a 501 (c) (3) not for profit corporation which is the fully accredited ACGME /AOA sponsoring institution for a 34-year old flourishing, community based Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program in Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA). With a stellar ACGME/AOA accreditation history, WCGME was founded in 1977 by Dr. Robert Wright, President and CEO, to promote professional self renewal and continuous quality enhancement of our regional community's healthcare delivery system through graduate medical education. As a testimonial to its community-driven mission governance, WCGME is proudly  recognized as the most significant primary care manpower renewal force in NEPA and has graduated 152 primary care physicians,  with several graduates being recognized as  regional and national physician leaders. Notably, our primary care program has organically expanded in the past two years and doubled in size.

WCGME internal medicine residents' inpatient and ambulatory training traditionally has occurred in local community affiliate hospitals and in two primary care health centers, the Wright Centers for Primary Care, Scranton, PA and Mid-Valley, Jermyn PA. These ambulatory centers are managed and operated by the Wright Center Medical Group, P.C. (WCMG), the 501 (c) (3) not for profit GME faculty practice plan corporation.  All inpatient services and ambulatory teaching sites are highly responsive and relevant to the communities they serve as well-recognized, nondiscriminatory safety net providers since their establishment. Both ambulatory centers are established inter-professional primary care workforce training environments academically affiliating with numerous institutions of higher education. WCPC clinics have implemented a fully integrated, 2011 meaningful use certified electronic medical record/practice management system. Each site is successfully engaged in the PA-Governor's Office of Health Care Reform's nationally recognized Chronic Care Model/Practice Transformation Initiative and has 2011 NCQA Level-3 Patient Centered Medical Home designation.

In July 2011, WCGME expanded residency training to the Wilkes Barre Veterans Affairs hospital and most notably received HRSA designation as a GME Teaching Health Center Consortium in new collaborative partnership with two well established FQHCs, Scranton Primary Health Care Center and Wayne Memorial Health Care Centers in NEPA. "The Teaching Health Center Highway to Community Relevance of GME" is a HRSA designated initiative which expanded our residency program by 6FTEs in 2011 with expected annual increases for our three year training program by 18 FTE in 2013. Presently there are a total of 54 residents:  one, PGY-IV, Academic Chief Resident; 10 PGY-III; 17 PGY-II; and 25 PGY-I.

Since December 2010, WCGME's  collaborative GME consortium has renewed focused on community wide consortium team building to ensure  high-performing inter-professional academic learning environments in facilitated pursuit of an innovative,  community responsive and relevant transformational GME training model. This model is focused on developing charismatic physician servant leaders rich in skills of population management delivered one patient at a time in team based delivery systems, enabled by effective health information technology and guided by a culture of patient engagement, satisfaction and safety, as well as continual quality improvement.  WCGME's intent is to optimize the overall health of our regional community through graduate medical education developments which deliver patient-centered care that is effective, efficient, comprehensive, continuous and coordinated to ensure highest quality. Principles of the Medical Home and Chronic Care Models, physician leadership, Meaningful Use of EMRs, patient self management support and shared decision making are integral to the Teaching Health Center curriculum.  This curriculum development is enhanced through active participation in the 2011 PA IPIP Residency/Community Health Center  initiative which  converges learning collaboratives, information technology, data management and reporting and proven quality improvement methods to assist and train our residents to provide patients with the best possible care.  At this crucial time of paradigm change in American healthcare, WCGME is proud to play a meaningful role as a Teaching Health Center GME consortium in the innovative overhaul of primary care service delivery and corresponding transformation of medical education necessary to train effective future primary care physician leaders and workforce. Through its GME consortium evolution, WCGME intends to develop a transparent financial/value accounting  model demonstrating the synergy of  multi-source federal investment in GME through effective reconciliation of CMS, VA and HRSA THC cost centers and authentic tracking of  innovative educational outcomes and practice patterns of our graduates.