UAMS to Cure Doc Shortage

There’s a simple cure for a frightening diagnosis: educate more health care professionals to produce more doctors, nurses and pharmacists to address a statewide shortage.

As 79 million baby boomers reach retirement age by 2011 and seek additional medical care, the health care worker shortage in the United States is expected to worsen. Further compounding the issue is that many working physicians are in the baby boomer generation.

According to the American Medical Association, 35 percent of physicians nationwide are over the age of 55. Most will likely retire within the next five to 10 years.

According to a survey by Merritt Hawkins & Associates, a national physician search firm based in Irving, Texas, 48 percent of U.S. physicians over 50 plan to reduce their patient load significantly in the next three years, either by retiring, seeking non-clinical jobs, discontinuing accepting new patients, working part-time or substantially reducing the number of patients they see.

The addition of a satellite campus of the University of Arkansas School for Medical Sciences in Northwest Arkansas is expected to help alleviate a shortage of doctors and nurses in the state.

UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., decided in 2006 to plan ahead by creating a satellite campus of the state’s only medical school and expand enrollment by 20.4 percent from 2005 to 2010.

Steps need to be taken now to educate more doctors, he said, or there won’t be enough to take care of the health care needs in the future.

“We’re making a decision now that in a sense, won’t impact the number of physicians for five to eight years,” he said. “That’s why we have to do it now, when we know we’re in trouble, or it will be too late.”

After looking at several areas of the state, UAMS chose Northwest Arkansas for the location of the satellite campus. Population growth, the number of hospitals in the area and the presence of the Veterans Administration Medical Center, made Northwest Arkansas an obvious choice, Wilson said.

In April 2007, Wilson coaxed Peter Kohler, M.D., to come out of retirement to be the vice chancellor for the Northwest Arkansas campus.

Kohler retired in 2006 after serving for 18 years as the president of Oregon Health and Science in Portland. He also served as chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at UAMS from 1977 to 1986 and interim dean of the UAMS College of Medicine from 1985 to 1986.

Population Problem

Kohler said part of the shortage problem is that population growth is outpacing the expansion of academic medical facilities.

The state has seen tremendous population growth, he said, while there hasn’t been any expansion of the number of people being trained.

The satellite campus is expected to address the problem, educating about 80 to 100 third- and fourth-year medical students and about 60 pharmacy students per year.

Kohler said he anticipates many of those students will stay and practice in the area once they complete their education, which will significantly improve the health care in Northwest Arkansas as well as benefit the regional economy by adding high-paying jobs.

“There will be a number of additional professionals here who will all be joining the economy,” he said.

The campus will also work with the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at University of Arkansas to expand enrollment and provide more graduate degrees.

Kohler is particularly interested in educating more faculty members for nursing schools around the state. There is a real shortage of nursing faculty in the state, he said, that can hopefully be alleviated by offering graduate nursing degrees.

The school will also educate allied health professionals — radiology techs, medical assistants — potentially partnering with the Northwest Arkansas Community College to expand health technology programs.

“Health care is headed toward a team approach,” Kohler said. “To educate those people in the same area would be useful.”

Eventually, the campus will accommodate between 250 and 300 students, including students in pediatric, gynecology, psychiatry and surgery programs. The campus will also team up with area hospitals, including Sparks Hospital and St. Edward’s in Fort Smith, to provide residency programs.

By expanding the work force and making more doctors, nurses and health technologists available, Kohler said it will be easier to recruit specialists to the area.

That will in turn improve the health care of the region, he said, which will make it more attractive for businesses to locate in Northwest Arkansas.

But Kohler is adamant the campus won’t just benefit the region, but the entire state by serving an important statewide function.

Arkansas has a shortage of about 1,000 physicians, 1,000 pharmacists and nearly 3,000 nurses.

“Clearly it will benefit this region, but it should also benefit the entire state, Kohler said.

Fund Raising

Before the satellite campus can begin accepting students, the former Washington Regional Medical Center on North College has to be transformed into a teaching facility.

Kohler estimates it will take about $3 million to renovate the old hospital, which Washington County will lease to UAMS for a nominal annual fee.

With a $500,000 donation from the Care Foundation Inc. of Springdale on Sept. 29, the campus is about halfway toward its goal.

Walter Turnbow, a Care Foundation Board Member, said the campus is one of the most exciting opportunities the area has seen in a long time.

“We’ve studied hundreds of applications for grants, but we’ve never studied an application for a grant that we feel is more important to Northwest Arkansas than that of UAMS-Northwest,” he said. “This will help with the shortage of medical professionals and we believe will be an economic stimulus for other development here.”

Turnbow said the board decided to make the $500,000 challenge grant in an effort to persuade others to make donations.

“We’re interested in individuals and businesses who can not give large amounts of money but can give $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000 contributions,” he said. “That will show there is local support for the Northwest Arkansas campus.”

The Northwest Arkansas Community Foundation also gave a $100,000 gift in August in an effort to encourage additional community support.

The UAMS-Northwest Advisory Board was recently formed to assist with philanthropy and support.

Morriss Henry, M.D., a Fayetteville ophthalmologist, was elected as chairman of the board.

Henry is passionate about the need for an expansion of the state’s medical school and the benefit it will have on the community.

“This is a needed situation,” he said. “It’s a golden opportunity and we need to take advantage of it.”

Henry plans to talk to as many people as possible over the next few weeks in order to drum up support before the legislature budget hearings begin this month.

The hope is that the legislature will look at the local support and be more willing to provide an ongoing funding stream for academic costs.

“We need to step up with the finances and show the legislature we mean business,” he said.

Northwest Arkansas families have been generous in their support of UAMS. Several buildings on the Little Rock campus bear the familiar names of Northwest Arkansas families, such as Harvey and Bernice Jones, and Pat and Willard Walker. Henry said he is hoping the Northwest Arkansas campus will get the support Little Rock has received over the years.

“This is a very important time to step up and make health education in Northwest Arkansas a real viable option,” he said.