A (Jan. 11) story in the Albuquerque Journal focused on how Presbyterian is working with an independent physician group to provide emergency and hospital-based care at Santa Fe Medical Center.
Whether in radiology, laboratory or anesthesiology, Presbyterian has long partnered with other medical groups and providers to create timely, consistent access to care in our facilities. This collaboration is separate and apart from continuing to build and support our own medical group – Presbyterian Medical Group – which currently employs 1,200 physicians and advanced practice clinicians throughout the state.
Partnerships with other medical groups represent a joint commitment to deliver care to more New Mexicans and bring additional providers to New Mexico so more patients can be treated in our community. In Santa Fe, our partnership will provide approximately 12 providers. These partnerships are important but do not replace our own provider recruitment efforts for Presbyterian Medical Group.
As a not-for-profit health system, we’re committed to recruiting more providers to meet the growing health care needs of those we serve. In fact, this focus meant we were able to recruit more physicians in 2022 than 2021.
We know that, like health systems across our country, the provider shortage is a real and long-term challenge for us. Fixing this problem requires efforts on multiple fronts, including recruitment and efforts to keep more clinicians in our state.
We’ve appreciated the ongoing support through the governor and Legislature to build pipelines for physicians and other medical professionals like nurses and medical assistants. This continued focus on programs that provide a strong pipeline of talent is critical. At Presbyterian, we’ve expanded our clinical rotations to allow approximately 2,000 health care students to learn in our facilities. Through private and public sector collaboration, we can grow talent in New Mexico to help fill the clinician shortage gap we’re experiencing today.
New Mexico has also opened many pathways for advanced practice clinicians to deliver care in more extensive ways than in other states. We’ve appreciated the path paved to help physician assistants and nurse practitioners work at the top of their licensure.
In addition to recruiting and retaining excellent clinicians, Presbyterian is exploring and implementing ways to augment how we provide care – such as creating more virtual care options and offering more consults between clinicians to ease the way for patients.
Our purpose is to care for New Mexicans. It is through efforts such as partnering with independent providers, building a strong talent pipeline at a state level and creating more virtual care options that we can address the clinician shortage and ensure access to care for more New Mexicans.
