In June of 2022, the Outer Banks Family Medicine – Manteo clinic notified nearly 2,500 patients they would have to find a new primary care physician. In a letter from Outer Banks Medical Group, patients were told that the two temporary providers at the Manteo practice would not be renewing their contracts and therefore, the practice would no longer be able to provide them care. The patients at the Manteo practice were also informed that no other providers with the Outer Banks Medical Group were accepting new patients
The Outer Banks Medical Group is part of the Outer Banks Hospital, a partnership between ECU Health (formerly Vidant) and Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.
The temporary providers were covering patients previously cared for by Dr. Johnny Farrow, Dr. Jennifer Harrison and Dr. Warren Blackburn. Farrow and Harrison are now at Surf Urgent Care in Kill Devil Hills, and Blackburn has since retired.
In response to a public outcry, the Dare County Board of Commissioners established to a Healthcare Task Force to address the growing healthcare concerns in Manteo, Roanoke Island, and the rest of Dare County. Physician shortages continue to be an issue across the country. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges there will be an estimated shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians across the nation by 2034.
The task force created the Committee on Recruitment and Retention, which included North Carolina Medical Society Vice President of Solutions, Franklin Walker, in an effort to engage community members with special experience and expertise. Walker presented information on CPP and the newly launched CPP 2.0 programs to offer insight into NCMS Foundation’s (NCMSF) recruitment and retention programs.
On September 6, 2023, the Dare County Board of Commissioners approved a recommendation influenced by the committee, and set forth by the taskforce, to establish a formal partnership with NCMSF to build an active program of recruitment and retention of primary care providers through loan repayment programs, preceptorships and student rotations. The goal is for the collaboration to be the basis of maintaining an adequate supply of primary care providers, nurses, and other essential health personnel long term.
To address the shortage of mental health providers, the task force anticipates making recommendations in 2024 based on the CPP 2.0 model. The partnership will also leverage NCMSF’s expertise to identify issues that make healthcare recruitment and retention difficult, such as salary scales, the housing crisis, and lack of specialty care.
The North Carolina Medical Society Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the North Carolina Medical Society. The mission of the North Carolina Medical Society Foundation is to improve access to quality health care for all North Carolinians. Our portfolio of programs demonstrates our commitment to this vision.
For more information on NCMSF or to donate, click here.
Wow. Great stuff! Cudos to Franklin and the NCMSF. Excellence in action
The need for primary care physicians was heavily resisted by the UNC system leadership and the leadership of Carolina Healthcare including officers of the NCMS, that NC did not need more physicians, just better distribution of physicians themselves since many were concentrated in the large metropolitan areas.
We proposed a medical school in Charlotte with the UNC-Charlotte but the chancellor was too timid to challenge the system and there was much resistance by Carolina Healthcare, now Atrium.
If a school had been started at the time of our proposal there would now be 50 or more new physicians each year since at least 2016!
The City of Charlotte was very hesitant also in view of the costs – that is, the richest city in NC with major donors who were interested could not come up with the finances.
The new medical school in Charlotte which will be opening soon will be a satellite of Wake Forest.