The UNT Health Science Center and the Catalyst Health Network say a new partnership will allow more future physicians and physicians assistants to train in the outpatient settings in which they’ll eventually practice medicine.
The agreement, announced Wednesday, will put UNTHSC students into primary care clinical settings under the direction of Catalyst providers.
“Catalyst not only aligns perfectly with UNTHSC’s values, it is the future of healthcare in North Texas,” UNTHSC President Dr. Michael Williams said in a statement.
While most medical schools are tethered to traditional teaching hospitals, UNTHSC now attaches itself to a three-year-old network of 515 independent primary care providers across 140 office locations. The network’s president, Christopher Crow, told me there’s a disconnect in the setting in which physicians train versus where so many end up practicing.
Having achieved what Crow calls geographic scale, he says Catalyst will be able to provide education via a network directed toward value-based care.
“They’re trying to educate the workforce of the future to be in that model,” Crow says.
More from the news release:
Today most residencies are hospital-based, but 90 percent of medicine is practiced in ambulatory settings. UNTHSC students will be exposed to clinical settings where care is patient-centered, team-based, and focused on wellness and prevention. Additionally, Catalyst and UNTHSC plan to incorporate residency training in ambulatory primary care, since most primary care physicians practice in this environment.
“This partnership is all about collaboration — and a unique relationship that is not tied to the past,” said Dr. Michael Hicks, UNTHSC’s executive vice president of health system partnerships and clinical affairs. “It’s about doing whatever it takes to redefine healthcare in North Texas and create the healthcare leaders of the future.”
Crow adds that UNTHSC faculty have already joined Catalyst, and students could receive placements in various Catalyst practices across Dallas-Fort Worth as early as this summer. The partnership will allow UNT School of Pharmacy students to work as part of an integrated care team. The Catalyst model will also influence classroom instruction, he says.
