Butler Memorial Hospital is on track to welcome its first residency class in July 2024.

Dr. Joe Dougherty, program director of Butler Family Medicine Residency, said the family medicine residency program is awaiting accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Hospital administrators have been building a residency program since 2021, to combat a potential physician shortage in the future.

The recent merger between Butler Health System and Excela Health, creating the new Independence Health System, hasn’t hindered Butler Memorial Hospital’s creation of a residency program — Dougherty said it could make the program more robust.

“Excela has had a family medicine residency for a long time, and they are currently approaching their 50th year,” Dougherty said. “It certainly opens up opportunities for academic and professional collaboration.”

The residency program at Butler hospital would be for family medicine practitioners, which Dougherty said would cover a variety of health needs that Butler County patients may seek. Resident physicians can also gain a wide range of experience through family medicine.

He also said the program would give its residents a more realistic picture of what their hospital duties likely would look like in a future physician position. According to Dougherty, the residency program would still be focused on molding physicians who can fill the needs of Butler County patients.

“As we await for accreditation, we continue to build the academic and clinical model, prepare the curriculum, and make connections with physicians and community members for clinical experiences,” Dougherty said.