MaineHealth Receives HRSA Grant to Enhance Rural Obstetric Training

Portland, Maine – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has awarded MaineHealth a three-year, $667,330 grant to establish new rural obstetric training intensives through the Maine Rural Graduate Medical Education (MERGE) Collaborative.

MaineHealth, Northern Light Health,

Central Maine Medical Center and the Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency co-created the MERGE Collaborative to increase high-quality training opportunities for graduate medical students in rural communities. Funding from the HRSA grant will allow MERGE to develop obstetrics education programs focused on rural community needs.

“This grant will help address the need for more obstetrics-trained providers in our rural areas,” said Dr. Kalli Varaklis, Designated Institutional Official at MaineHealth and the principal investigator for the HRSA grant. “It creates an opportunity for students in rural residency rotations to learn important skills to support pregnant patients and their families.”

Physicians from six hospital programs in Maine and Eastern New Hampshire including MaineHealth Stephens Hospital, MaineHealth Franklin Hospital, Northern Light Mayo Hospital, Mount Desert Island Hospital, Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency and MaineHealth Memorial Hospital will develop the new curriculum. Dr. Jeannette Andrews, an OB/GYN at MaineHealth Stephens Hospital, and Dr. Kathryn Hoffmann, a Family Medicine physician at Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency, will lead the effort.

“Family medicine physicians train to provide comprehensive healthcare across settings and over the lifespan, so they are well-positioned to help address the gap in obstetrical care within rural communities,” Dr. Hoffmann said. “Building strong partnerships between family medicine and OB/GYN physicians can increase access to specialty care in rural communities by allowing OB/GYN physicians to focus on higher risk patients and surgical procedures.”

The physician leaders also will use focus groups to learn what skills patients feel residents need to learn most. Patient focus groups will begin in early 2025 with the training intensives expected to take their first students by the end of the year.