Originally published October 31, 2014 at 11:35 AM | Page modified October 31, 2014 at 12:26 PM

The cheapest, fastest way to increase the number of Washington students studying to become doctors in the eastern part of the state is to allow the University of Washingtons medical school program to expand in Spokane, a study commissioned by the UW has found.

The study is the latest salvo between the states two research universities, which are both vying for money from the state Legislature in the upcoming session to create new medical-school slots in Spokane.

Underscoring the UWs interest in Eastern Washington, UW President Michael K. Young and UW Regent Orin Smith both flew to Spokane to announce the results of the study at a morning news conference Friday.

WSU wants to build a new medical school from scratch in that city, and the UW wants to expand an existing program. Although both universities say their relationship has not become acrimonious, the two schools dissolved a medical school partnership earlier this month and announced they would pursue separate paths to address the physician shortage.

Theres little debate about the need.

Only about 120 Washington residents are accepted each year into the UW School of Medicine, the states only public medical school program although six times that many apply. Both universities, and many medical professionals, agree that Washington should be sending more of its students to medical school as part of a strategy to increase the number of doctors practicing primary medicine in rural and underserved areas of the state.

The UW report, written by research firm Tripp Umbach, says that the UWs plan to double the size of its medical school program would be the most cost-effective option, and could be expanded rapidly.

The report says the average cost of medical education per student in the UW program is $70,000 per year. Thats lower than WSUs estimated cost of $98,000 per year if it were to build its own medical school.

Tripp Umbach also found that Eastern Washington cannot support two medical schools because theres a limit on the number of clinical training and residency training sites available suggesting that the Legislature must pick one option or the other, but cannot support both.

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New study fuels debate on who should train doctors in Spokane