The Heartland Whole Health Institute recently released its report on Arkansas' physician shortage, making the case for a graduate medical education technical assistance center. It highlights issues few would dispute: Arkansas needs more physicians, more residency positions, and more doctors practicing in rural communities.

The report showed that Arkansas graduates roughly 430 medical students each year, but has only about 375 first-year residency positions. Too many young physicians leave the state because there isn't room to continue their training here. Decades of research prove that physicians often practice near where they complete residency. If they leave Arkansas for training, many never return.

But there's another part of this story that deserves attention. It started 50 years ago.

In 1973, Arkansas leaders created one of the first statewide Area Health Education Center networks--now known as University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Regional Campuses--with a mission to train more primary care physicians, keep Arkansas medical graduates in Arkansas, and........

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