Mercy Gilbert Medical Center recently received national recognition by The Leapfrog Group, a national health care watchdog organization, for serving as exceptional teaching hospital. 

Dignity Health Chandler Regional Medical Center also was recognized. The two Dignity Health East Valley medical centers were the only two hospitals in Arizona to make the list.

“I’m incredibly proud of our teams at Chandler Regional and Mercy Gilbert who are dedicated to providing expert care to our patients and their commitment to mentoring the next generation of health care providers through our graduate medical education  programs,” Roger Bies, Dignity Health East Valley GME designated institutional official and executive for the Office of Academic Affairs, said in a release.

The Dignity Health East Valley GME program first launched in 2023, and offers medical residency programs in several specialities; emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, general surgery as well as obstetrics and gynecology, which will welcome its inaugural class of residents this July. 

More than 50 residents  have the opportunity to participate in clinical rotations at Mercy Gilbert and Chandler Regional, train at other Dignity Health facilities across the Valley and receive hands-on experience in rural and tribal communities. 

“Dignity Health East Valley offers a competitive GME program, which allows medical residents the opportunity to personally understand and meet the health care needs of the rapidly growing communities in Chandler, Gilbert and beyond,” Bies said. “Through individualized mentorship, our medical residents are witnessing compassionate care first-hand which we hope they will carry with them throughout their career.”

Dignity Health East Valley will celebrate Match Day on March 21, a highly anticipated event where resident candidates learn of the GME program in which they have been paired. This class of residents will start their GME journey in July.

The Leapfrog Group Top Hospital designation is awarded to top-performing facilities that are committed to preventing medication errors, higher quality maternity care and lower infection rates among other criteria.

The award is given to hospitals in four categories; teaching, general, rural and children’s hospitals that meet the group’s survey methods.