Does a medical residency have to take place in a hospital?

[VarArb]

I ask because I loathe hospitals, having been uninsured for many years. My experiences in American hospitals has always been frightening, because the billing departments always charge uninsured people 5-10 times what they charge the insurance companies of people who have insurance, and I discovered that being poor is no excuse. They sent me bills anyway.

I truly feel that hospitals are now like organized crime. I would never work in an American hospital unless I absolutely had to, any more than I would join the Cosa nostra.

[W W D]

It's a bit unfair of you to blame hospitals for a problem that really is the result of the insurance industry. If you're interested in a family practice or general surgery residency, you might consider interviewing the folks at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, where they've pledged to charge the poor and uninsured the same discounted rates they charge the large insurers. Other hospitals will likely follow if their experiment works.
Your specialty matters, of course, but a residency is a training program, and to learn the procedures done in hospital, you have to be in hospital.