Rural residency planning and development program - 1. Applicant facility type: institution of higher education

The Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professionals awarded the University of Wyoming $749,881 on August 1, 2026, to plan and develop the Buffalo Rural Training Program (B-RTP), a new family medicine residency track under the Rural Health Research Centers program (CFDA 93.155).

The award funds the establishment of a new rural residency pathway in family medicine with enhanced obstetric and maternity training, preparing physicians for full-scope rural practice in Johnson County, Wyoming, a frontier county with approximately 8,500 residents. The program follows a 1+2 model in which PGY-1 training occurs at the University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program in Casper, and PGY-2 and PGY-3 training occur at Johnson County Healthcare Center (JCHC), placing more than 50 percent of training in a rural setting. The University of Wyoming serves as the ACGME-accredited sponsoring institution (institutional sponsor code #579501), with headquarters at 1000 E. University Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming 82071.

The period of performance runs from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029. The program targets ACGME accreditation by academic year 2028–2029, with recruitment in academic year 2029–2030 and the first resident matriculating in July 2030. Three residents are projected overall, one per year. Sustainability strategies include Medicare residency training FTE-cap expansion via Banner Wyoming Medical Center, cost-based reimbursement at JCHC, and other public or private funding sources.

The university of wyoming (UW) is a public, acgme-accredited sponsoring institution (SI) and applicant for the buffalo rural training program (B-RTP). 2. Program pathway: general primary care (pathway 1); qualifying specialty family medicine. The B-RTP does not pursue the maternal health and obstetrics pathway. 3. Residency specialty: family medicine, preparing physicians for full-scope rural practice with enhanced obstetric and maternity training embedded in the family medicine curriculum. 4. Residency format: new rural track program (RTP; new-program accreditation). PGY-1 is based at the UW family medicine residency program in CASPER (UWFMRP-CASPER); PGY-2 and PGY-3 are based at JCHC, so >50% of the training occurs rurally. 5. Sponsoring institution: university of wyoming, 1000 E. University AVE., laramie, WY 82071; acgme institutional sponsor code #579501. 6. Rural target county: johnson county, WY – rural and frontier, with ~8,500 residents, nearly 40% in unincorporated areas and ~30% over age 65 (hrsa-eligible per the rural health grants eligibility analyzer, 09/11/2025). 7. Funding requested: $749,968 over the three-year period of performance (09/01/2026-08/31/2029). 8. Sustainability options: option 2--medicare RTP FTE-cap expansion via banner wyoming medical center (BWMC); option 5--CAH reasonable-cost payments at JCHC (CCN 531308); option 6--other public/private funding. 9. Projected residents: three total, one per year, in a 1+2 model. 10. Accreditation/matriculation: target acgme accreditation AY 2028-2029; recruitment AY 2029-2030; first resident matriculating july 2030, within one year of project-period close. 11. Recent hrsa awards (past 5 years): D58HP37587, primary care training and enhancement-residency training in primary care (PCTE-RTPC), 2020-2025; H80CS30723, health center program buffalo, in rural johnson county, north-central wyoming, anchors a frontier region where many communities lack reliable access to primary and obstetrical care. Johnson county healthcare center (JCHC), a critical access hospital (CAH), delivers full-spectrum outpatient and inpatient primary care, obstetrics and labor and delivery, emergency, and surgical services to an aging, agricultural population that includes the veterans' home of wyoming. UW graduate medical education (UW-GME) is uniquely positioned to close this GAP: drawing on five decades of rural family medicine training in CASPER, cheyenne, and thermopolis and on the wwami regional medical education partnership, IT has built an in-state physician pipeline with strong rural retention. UW-GME proposes the B-RTP, a new three-year family medicine residency primarily sited at JCHC, to prepare physicians for independent, full-scope rural practice including maternity care. Over the federal planning period, UW-GME and JCHC will (1) achieve acgme initial accreditation; (2) finalize curriculum, didactics, and scholarly-activity plans; (3) recruit and credential core faculty with rural obstetrical expertise; (4) build supervision, evaluation, and wellness infrastructure; (5) secure sustainable medicare GME, CAH reimbursement for GME, and public/private financing; and (6) recruit the inaugural resident for matriculation immediately after the project period. Partners include UW-GME (SI), JCHC (rural site), the educational health center of wyoming (CASPER fqhc), banner-wyoming medical center (urban hospital), wyoming's office of rural health, and the wyoming medical society, with technical assistance from hrsa's rrpd technical assistance center. The expected outcome is durable and measurable: a wyoming-grown physician pipeline serving the communities that need IT most and a replicable model for rural workforce development.