Project Details:

Aviva Health is constructing of a new 31,350 square foot (SF) facility that will be annexed to its Roseburg Clinic. The expansion is needed support the establishment of the Roseburg Family Medicine Residency Program, created in partnership with Mercy Medical Center. The Project seeks to address the physician and clinical health care workforce shortage in the area, while improving access to affordable, high quality physical and behavioral healthcare for the low-income community.

Based on information provided by the Sponsor, many rural based physicians are approaching retirement and it is estimated that nearly 25 percent fewer may be practicing by 2030. Furthermore, medical school matriculants from rural areas who are most likely to practice in such regions declined 28 percent between 2002 and 2017. This information is based on a 2019 study led by Scott Shipman, MD, AAMC, director of primary care initiatives and clinical innovations. That decline came at a time when the overall number of matriculants increased by 30 percent. In addition, in 2016 and 2017, students from rural backgrounds made up just 4.3 percent of the incoming medical student body.

The Sponsor explains, Douglas County has never recovered from the physician losses it experienced five years ago, and the goal of the Family Medicine Residency Program at Roseburg is to retain those physicians completing their clinical training in the community.

Aviva’s Roseburg Family Medicine Residency Program is a collaboration with and supported directly by CHI Mercy Medical Center and OPTI-West. Numerous other partners include Umpqua Health Alliance (local Coordinated Care Organization), United Community Action Network (UCAN), the Douglas County Board of Commissioners (land donation), and many others.