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South Carolina Hospital, University Announce Plans to Expand Medical Enrollment
The Greenville Hospital System and the University of South Carolina have announced plans to partner to help expand the state's capacity to train physicians, the Greenville News reports. According to statistics cited by the News, the United States will be short 125,000 physicians by 2025, and South Carolina currently ranks 37th among states for the number of practicing physicians per 100,000 residents. However, because the university is at capacity, class sizes cannot be increased. Noting that the school already annually rejects approximately 100 qualified applicants because of space constraints, the two entities have instead devised plans calling for a four-year medical school to be established at the health system's Greenville campus. Currently, a portion of third- and fourth-year medical students already complete their clinical rotations at the hospital after spending their first two years of medical school at the university in Columbia. According to the plan, an inaugural class of 40 medical students could begin studies as early as fall 2012, with future plans calling for an expansion to include 100 students. The proposal also calls for incentives to encourage medical students to become primary care physicians. According to the vice president for medical and academic services at the hospital system, the new program will cost between $25 million and $27 million to implement, with some funding potentially provided by federal stimulus funds. Pursuit of the plan has been approved by system's board of trustees, and a task force has been convened to devise a proposal. According to the Greenville News, the proposal must then be approved by the two entities' boards before it can be submitted to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the national accrediting body for medical schools (Osby, Greenville News, 10/7/09).