Creating a new family medicine residency program offers both short- and long-term benefits for Rhode Island. (Photo by 9dreamstudio/Getty image)
Rhode Island faces a chronic shortage of primary care physicians — the state needs approximately 133 to 266 more, according to an estimate by Dr. Michael Fine, the former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health,
Earlier this year, state legislators endorsed a new publicly funded medical school at the University of Rhode Island in an effort to increase the state’s supply of primary care physicians. The return on this investment, however, will not be realized for more than a decade. That’s too long to wait, many clinicians say…