Mercy Announces New Medical Residency Program to Benefit Springfield's Physician Workforce Pipeline

Research shows doctors more likely to practice where they complete residency

SPRINGFIELD, Mo., June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercy Springfield Communities is expanding its role as a leader in healthcare education. After decades collaborating with colleges and universities around the Ozarks to train aspiring healthcare professionals, Mercy is launching its own graduate medical education (GME) program in the summer of 2027. Mercy plans to establish at least 160 residency and fellowship positions by 2032, starting with internal medicine which will have 75 residency slots within five years.

The announcement comes as hospitals across the country face a looming shortage of doctors. By 2038, the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis projects the United States will face a shortage of more than 140,000 physicians.

"We know Springfield is not immune to this, and our goal is to address this expected workforce shortage head-on" said John Myers, president of Mercy Springfield Communities. "Even with great medical schools in the state, Missouri is a net exporter of medical residents. We lose about one third of med school graduates to other states. There simply are not enough residency slots in Missouri for the number of medical students who want to complete their residency here. A new GME program could help address that."

Graduate medical education programs provide medical school graduates with the residency training required for them to receive their license to practice medicine in the U.S. Most GME programs are funded by Medicare, and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 capped the number of Medicare-funded residency positions within active GME programs. This freeze created a shortage of residency slots and has been a contributing factor to the looming physician shortage.

"This will benefit every healthcare system in southwest Missouri," said Dr. Sadaf Sohrab, chief medical officer for Mercy Springfield Communities. "Research shows doctors are more likely to practice in the communities where they complete their residency, so our GME program could mean hundreds of doctors get their training in Springfield, fall in love with our community and decide to build their careers in southwest Missouri."

To understand the potential fiscal impact a new GME program could have on Springfield, Mercy worked with the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. An economic impact study estimates the program will sustain 635 jobs and generate more than $111 million in economic output in Greene County over the program's first seven years through the household spending of the residents that end up staying in the county.

"When we started talking about how to address the looming workforce shortage, we knew we had to dream big," said Myers. "Being able to announce that our first GME class will start next summer is great news that benefits our whole community. This is a head-on approach to addressing our physician shortage, and we're eager to start recruiting residents from Missouri medical schools, so we can train them and retain them in southwest Missouri."

Mercy has a successful history of launching GME programs. Mercy Hospital St. Louis has six fully-accredited specialty residency programs including OB/GYN, internal medicine and family medicine. In Arkansas, Mercy Hospital Fort Smith offers residency programs in family medicine, internal medicine and a transitional year residency, and Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas has an internal medicine residency program.

Mercy, one of the 15 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized care and one of the nation's largest and highest performing Accountable Care Organizations in quality and cost. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including 55 acute care and specialty (heart, children's, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has over 1,000 physician practice locations and outpatient facilities, more than 5,000 physicians and advanced practitioners and more than 50,000 caregivers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In fiscal year 2025 alone, Mercy provided more than half a billion dollars of free care and other community benefits, including traditional charity care and unreimbursed Medicaid.

SOURCE Mercy