Finding a primary care doctor in Great Falls is getting harder. But Benefis Health System is training the next generation of physicians right here in the city and hoping they will choose to stay.
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Benefis launched its first internal medicine residency program last year, welcoming its inaugural class of 10 physicians who had just completed medical school. The program has since grown to 32 residents, and the goal goes beyond just training doctors. It is also about keeping them.
A common misconception, says Dr. Michael Sheffield, who oversees the program, is that residents are somehow less qualified than fully practicing physicians.
"I think the term sometimes is thrown out — 'they're baby doctors or student doctors.' They're not that. Those are medical students. They're really physicians. They can write prescriptions; they can assign treatment plans and so forth," Sheffield said.
Benefis estimates Great Falls is currently 15 to 20 primary care providers short of what national standards would expect. The residency program was built specifically to address that gap — and it is banking on a well-documented trend in medical training.
"About 60% of them stay where they finish their training. For primary care, that number is actually a little bit higher — probably 70%. So the good idea is to train your own, in hopes that some will stay and you'll begin to meet the needs of the community," Sheffield said.
Second-year resident Dr. Dewmini Abeynayake is already building the kind of relationships that make a physician want to put down roots in a community.
"I know my patients' dog's name and their kid's name. It's very personal because we have time," Abeynayake said.
That personal connection is shaping her vision for her own future in medicine — and her answer is exactly what Great Falls needs to hear.
"I'm 95% sure I'm going to go into primary care and continuity of care. I see my patients every day," Abeynayake said.
Dr. Sheffield says the program is already making a measurable difference — the residency has effectively added the equivalent of two primary care providers to the region, with that number expected to grow to four next year, covering care for an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 patients.
Anyone in Great Falls looking for a primary care provider can call Benefis Health System and ask for the internal medicine residency clinic. The clinic is currently accepting new patients.
