Match Day

Photo by David Ryan, Globe Staff
Tufts Medical School students Jessica Hsu (center) is thrilled about going to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She hugs Maristella Evanglista, with Kate Esselen on the right.

By Elizabeth Cooney, Globe Correspondent

Fourth-year medical students discovered today where they will spend the next stage of their medical training.

This year the Match Day formula sorted more than 15,000 US medical school seniors into programs at teaching hospitals. There was a small uptick in family medicine choices nationwide, coming at a time when primary care doctors are in short supply.

At the four medical schools in Massachusetts, primary care specialties -- family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, and pediatrics -- drew almost half the soon-to-be MDs graduating from the three schools in Boston. At University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, the tally was higher, consistent with its mission focusing on primary care. Both levels are similar to previous years.

-- Boston University School of Medicine: 46 percent
-- Harvard Medical School: 44 percent
-- Tufts University School of Medicine: 46 percent
-- University of Massachusetts Medical School: 60 percent

According to the National Resident Matching Program, which orchestrates the placements, interest in family medicine positions rose from 7.2 percent last year to 7.6 percent. There were more positions open, after 10 years of declines, the organization said in a statement today.The numbers at the Massachusetts schools:

-- BU: 7 percent
-- Harvard: 2 percent
-- Tufts: 7 percent
-- UMass: 10 percent

The family medicine program held its own at UMass, filling all 11 openings, Dr. Deborah DeMarco, associate dean of graduate medical education, said in an interview. Like programs around the nation, family medicine had some difficulty finding residents over the past several years.

"It was one of the best matches in a number of years," she said.