University of Central Florida-HCA Florida Healthcare Greater Orlando-Lake Monroe Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a new, community-based Internal Medicine program (inaugural class July 2024) formed through a university-hospital partnership between UCF and HCA Healthcare, training at HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital, a 221-bed Level II Trauma Center with cardiovascular and inpatient rehabilitation services in Sanford, FL, just outside Orlando. The program's explicit mission is to train physicians to serve the Greater Orlando community and expand access to care, with a structural emphasis on quality improvement and patient safety curricula requiring residents to design and implement their own QI projects. Its academic half-day model, noon report, and 4+1 scheduling reflect a design built for protected educational time within a busy community clinical service rather than a research-heavy academic identity, though scholarly activity is required and supported through HCA's national research infrastructure. As part of the large HCA GME network, the program appears to value residents oriented toward general internal medicine practice (hospitalist, primary care, or subspecialist) who will thrive in a collegial, well-being-focused community hospital setting rather than a quaternary academic powerhouse.