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Community Based Family Medicine Residency Program

In September of 2015, CommuniCare Health Centers (now called CommuniCare) partnered with the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine (UIWSOM) to join one of the Texas Institute for Graduate Medical Education and Research (TIGMER) residency programs known as the Community Based Family Medicine (CBFM) residency program.

Through CBFM residency program, our residents serve the community by participating in health fairs and health promotion activities. Residents are encouraged to engage in scholarly work and participate in research projects. Several of our residents have had their work accepted for publication and have presented their projects at national and regional meetings. Faculty members work with residents to develop the clinical inquiry skills to excel in the medical field.
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At the local level, our residents are involved through the Bexar County Medical Society (BCMS) which is an organization that serves and represents the member physicians of Bexar County in providing quality health care for their patients and the public.
Currently, there are 3 CBFM resident representatives from each class serving on the Public Health and Patient Advocacy Committee: Dr. Matthew Coston PGY1, Dr. Crystel Harb PGY2, Dr. Veronica Nieves-Garcia PGY3. The Public Health committee continuously adds and updates practice management resources to help spread evidence-based guidelines with recent COVID-19 and Monkeypox public health outbreaks.

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At the state level, our residents are engaged with the Texas Academy of Family Physicians (TAFP) which empowers family physicians to play a robust role in health care for their patients and their communities. Our residents are invited to participate in the annual TAFP research competition and present their findings via poster presentations at the annual conference. Additionally, they are encouraged to become involved in leadership positions and participate in professional development activities to build long-lasting successful career skills.
Recently, our PGY2 resident, Dr. Crystel Harb was elected to be a TAFP resident delegate for the academic year 2022-2023 and attends monthly advocacy meetings that include legislative updates from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) at the national level. Through the TAFP and AAFP, our residents have also submitted research projects and presented posters at regional conferences.
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OUR MODEL

The CBFM residency program follows the Teaching Health Center model and allows for residents to train on the front line of healthcare under the guidance of our esteemed Board-Certified faculty.

This program trains future physicians to provide Community-Oriented, Patient-Centered, and High-Quality primary care with a focus on providing healthcare to underserved populations and improving overall access to medical treatment.

OUR MISSION

The mission of the Community-Based Family Medicine Program is to provide excellent clinical training while providing the highest quality health care to our patients.

Upon successful completion of the program, the physician will be prepared to provide comprehensive osteopathic primary care to diverse populations in multiple clinical settings. The program offers the resident with well-structured training in both cognitive and procedural domains, which will provide primary responsibility for patient care in the inpatient and outpatient settings. This training will offer a variety of didactic and clinical experiences as well as utilization of osteopathic principles and practices relating to family medicine.

Graduates of the residency program will have multiple opportunities to begin their career at a South Texas Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with options for Physician Education Loan Repayment Program (PELRP). 

OUR FUNDING

The TIGMER Community-Based Family Medicine Residency Program is made possible through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) GME Expansion and Operational Grant Programs, a major grant from The Center for Health Care Services (CHCS) and support from CommuniCare and the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine. Additional support also comes from the Baptist Health System and GME positions from the Department of Veterans Affairs.