It is predicted that by 2034, the demand for patient care will exceed the physician availability in both primary and specialty care. In rheumatology specifically, projections indicate there will be 31% fewer rheumatologists, while patient demand for rheumatology services is expected to rise by 138% during this period.
To address this pending challenge, the Rheumatology Research Foundation offers education and training awards to healthcare systems and medical practices to reinforce the rheumatology pipeline and improve patient access to care. The Foundation’s support for this work is most recently evident at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, which was awarded the Fellowship Training Award for Workforce Expansion. The funding will allow the institution to recruit a total of four new adult rheumatology fellows by 2026.
Two fellows, Rohini Bilagi, MD and Saima Hafiz, MD, began their fellowship at Virginia Mason in July 2025, and their presence is already making a difference. Erin Bauer, MD, fellowship program director, says she can see improvements in wait times at the clinic since the program was established. “In November 2024, our wait time for a new patient was 80 days. That decreased to 66 days by August 2025, allowing us to diagnose and treat patients sooner,” she said. “Immersing the new fellows into our healthcare system has created opportunities to offer a seamless continuity of care for our hospitalized patients, and we have improved our efficiency with inpatient consults.”
Prior to establishing the program, the rheumatology team at Virginia Mason faced several barriers in meeting patient demand and demonstrating the value of a rheumatology fellowship at the medical center. “We had to show the long-term benefits to our institution of training rheumatology fellows while considering financial implications,” said Amish Dave, MD, MPH, associate program director of the fellowship program. “We were able to show administrative leadership that our fellows would be a net gain in terms of seeing additional outpatient and inpatient consults, improving access times for patients, and reducing burdens on primary care clinicians eager to have their patients seen.”
Dr. Bauer echoed Dr. Dave’s sentiments about the program’s merit in increasing the number of rheumatologists in the area, especially in Washington state, where there are approximately 60 rheumatologists for an estimated 1.34 million adults with arthritisArthritis is the swelling and tenderness of one or more joints. Learn more. requiring medical care. “The Foundation’s award was crucial in instituting this program because it allows our hospital system to realistically support it for the first couple of years as the team works to fine-tune the program and show its sustainability,” she said.
“Having four additional rheumatologists in training by 2026 in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), where prior to this year there were just eight, is a big jump! We have had so much support and excitement from the rheumatology community in the region, and having a fellowship was a draw for several of the rheumatologists we recently hired at Virginia Mason. This has allowed us to attract even more dedicated rheumatologists to the area,” she continued.
The program also has a unique opportunity to continue attracting top talent to the region through the National Resident Matching Program, a non-profit organization that places medical students into clinical training programs. For this year’s matching program, Virginia Mason saw increased interest from applicants. Dr. Bauer shared that the program “received well over 100 applications this year for two available positions, an increase of 20% from last year. There are so many dedicated and talented physicians out there who want to be rheumatologists, and they are interested in staying or returning to the PNW.”
The Fellowship Training Award for Workforce Expansion covers two years for adult training. For more information, visit: https://www.rheumresearch.org/education-and-training-awards#FTAWF