IUP Exploring a Possible Solution to Local Rural Physician Shortage

By Nick Jacobs

Drive just a few minutes outside of metropolitan Pittsburgh and you likely will be in an area legitimately called “rural.” Yet while the surroundings may differ starkly from city to countryside, the people who live in either place encounter many of the same needs. One of those, a critical one, is access to quality, comprehensive health care.

While rural brethren might take pride in fresher air and less traffic, they often suffer—often literally—from a lack of physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Big Picture: The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projects that a physician shortage could reach a high of 124,000 by 2024. Nor will the resultant strain be borne equally.

Gerald E. Harmon, president of the American Medical Association, also raised alarms about the future of U.S. health care, saying that “because it can take up to a decade to properly educate and train a physician, we need to take action now to ensure we have enough physicians to meet the needs of tomorrow.”

This bleak scenario recently was presented to Indiana Regional Medical Center, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), and Indiana County leadership. As a local response, it was suggested that IUP, as one of the larger state universities in Pennsylvania, should take a lead role in creating a rural family practice medical school. Such an initiative would be a game-changer for not only the university but also for the entire Commonwealth.

A general decline in student enrollment the past decade has affected universities throughout the United States, leading to painful programming cuts and other downsizing initiatives. Still, most of the exceptionally strong programs thriving at IUP are heavily directed toward STEM (Science Technology, Engineering, and Math). These programs have had continued robust enrollment numbers in healthcare and science-oriented degrees. 

In December, IUP President Dr Michael Driscoll confirmed that the IUP Board of Trustees has approved exploration of this medical school initiative, cautioning however that funding will be a major factor in the ultimate decision.

The financial challenge may be exacerbated by Duquesne University’s decision to build a College of Oseopathic Medicine, which has garnered support from some Pittsburgh-based granting organizations. This might limit those organizations’ enthusiasm or capacity for an IUP medical school. That would be unfortunately because, although Duquesne University’s medical school is a positive addition to the area, the reality is that urban-trained physicians tend to remain in urban areas, and their training and resources do not ideally match a rural setting.

Faced with these realities, the most critical major potential source of support for this project is the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). Working with state legislators, PASSHE could muster resources that would help create a Western Pennsylvania Medical School based at IUP. 

Moreover, each year entry-level seats could be held for students from each of the 14 state universities that come under the PASSHE umbrella: West Chester, Slippery Rock, Shippensburg, Millersville, Mansfield, Lock Haven, Kutztown, Edinboro, East Stroudsburg, Clarion, Cheyney, California, Bloomsburg, and IUP 

Those potential critical players in this scenario, including private and community foundations, need to realize how such a school would improve our region. The primary question they should ask is “How do we fill the dozens of physician openings we already have in this area?” Without a plan to address this challenge, the number of openings will only increase. 

Another regional asset that could provide significant depth and impact to this medical school is the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Molecular Medicine. CSSI currently houses not only 500,000 donated tissues samples for research, but also has on staff talented PhDs in genomics, informatics, and tissue banking who could contribute extensively to the educational research needed to support a medical school.  

Finally, consider the cost we all bear when hiring physicians locally. Intense competition forces the need to employ recruiters. There are a number of other expenses, from recruiting, interviews, relocations and salary and benefits. Total cost for this process, according to the UNC Solutions blog, totals about $341,000.

The alternative - locally sourcing and training physicians from 30-plus graduates a year over a ten-year period - would pay for itself three-fold.

Our challenge is that we desperately need physicians in our region. A possible solution is a local medical school. This IUP initiative would help give students from rural parts of Pennsylvania an opportunity to go to medical school near home. And that will ultimately benefit everyone in our region.