USC/California Hospital
Family Medicine Residency

Managing Care in the 21st Century:
A Longitudinal Curriculum for Family Practice Residents

How can our residency training program equip their resident learners to be expert managers of care in the rapidly changing US health care delivery environment?

We have designed and implemented a longitudinal curriculum in managing care, with an emphasis in experiential learning, through which resident learners acquire and repeatedly apply specific skills required for managing care in the next decade.

Description of Program
We have identified specific skill sets within 12 major areas of learning which will equip our residents to become experts in managing care while adapting to the substantial changes we are experiencing in the delivery and reimbursement of health services. The curriculum is built upon the foundation of a 12 to 18 month cycle of 13 didactic/discussion sessions on the subjects of Managing Care in the 21st Century (a historical perspective on medical economics, managed care, and what to expect in the next decade), Models for the Delivery and Reimbursement of Health Care Services, Evidence-Based Medicine, Medical Informatics, Continuous Performance Improvement, Epidemiology and Population-Based Medicine, Chronic Disease Management, The Business of Medicine, Caring for the Hospitalized Patient (Traditional Integrated and Hospitalist Models), Mental Health in Primary Care, Physician Leadership, Hospital Organization and Management, and Community Oriented Primary Care. A course book including original text and directed readings in these areas of learning was developed by our faculty. An emphasis is placed on experiential learning as residents acquire and develop skills while caring for patients in their clinics, on the wards, and in the community.