The University of Minnesota and CentraCare are teaming up on a 1-year fellowship that trains family medicine physicians in obstetrics.
The program will accept 2 fellows a year, and training is tentatively set to start in July 2027. Applicants should note the date: the priority application deadline is Nov. 15.
The numbers explain why it exists. Between 2010 and 2024, 29 Minnesota hospitals stopped offering obstetric services, and only 56% of the state's hospitals now provide full obstetric care. The fellowship's backers also cited CDC data showing that more than 80% of maternal deaths are preventable.
Fellows will spend most of the year in St. Cloud, at St. Cloud Hospital or the CentraCare Plaza clinic. They'll also do a month each at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar and Redwood Falls Hospital, which gives them direct experience of the small-hospital settings the program is built to serve.
About 24 weeks of the year go to obstetrics: natural birth, cesarean sections and miscarriage diagnosis. By the end, fellows are expected to have done more than 100 C-sections. Fellows will train alongside both OB/GYNs and family physicians. The curriculum also covers neonatal resuscitation and perinatal mental health, plus rotations in maternal-fetal medicine, surgical intensive care, newborn intensive care and rural family medicine.
"We urgently need to train more physicians who can provide maternity, pregnancy and postpartum care in our state's smallest communities," said Dr. Christine Goudge, the program director. She was also realistic about what 2 fellows a year can do: "It may not be the entire solution, but it's an important part of addressing Minnesota's maternity care needs."
Dr. Keri Bergeson, director of rural programs in the U of M's Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, called it a shared effort. "The need for high-quality health care close to home is higher than ever," Bergeson said. "This fellowship aims to help address the need for obstetric care in rural communities through a collaborative training model."
For towns that have watched their birthing units close, it's a small but real pipeline.
