By Tess Vrbin Columbia Daily Tribune

The north side of the University of Missouri School of Medicines newest addition provides a direct view of Jesse Hall. UM System President Mun Choi said the iconic administrative building is a testament to our commitment to Missouri, the university and all future MU medical students that will use the new Patient-Centered Care Learning Center.

Choi was one of several speakers at the grand opening of the facility. Construction took two years and the facility is part of a $42.5 million expansion project a decade in the making. The project also includes a clinical campus in Springfield, the result of a partnership between MU and two Springfield health systems, CoxHealth and Mercy.

Both additions to the medical school have allowed it to incrementally raise its class size by one-third, from 96 to 128 since 2014. The Springfield campus will host 64 third- and fourth-year students, the additional 32 from each class, by 2020. The Association of American Medical Colleges has called for all medical schools to increase enrollment by 30 percent to address the nationwide shortage of physicians.

AAMCs most recent report about physician supply and demand predicts a shortfall of between 34,600 and 88,000 by 2025. This projection has dropped from a maximum of 90,400 since 2015 and 130,600 since 2010. Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that in 2013, the U.S. ranked 31st out of 35 countries in terms of medical graduates and 24th out of 28 countries in terms of physicians per 1,000 people.

The shortage is most striking in rural areas because most physicians live in cities. American Medical Association president David Barbe said that as vice president of regional operations for Mercy in Springfield, he is responsible for recruiting physicians at Mercys many rural practices in southwest Missouri. He is embarrassed about the large amount of open positions within the network, particularly among primary care physicians, he said.

The MU School of Medicines Rural Track Pipeline Program recruits students from rural areas and trains them in rural communities throughout the state, said program co-founder Weldon Webb, who is also the associate dean for the Springfield clinical campus implementation.

The clinical campus started hosting students last summer, and it is located between CoxHealth and Mercy. CoxHealth president and CEO Steve Edwards said the partnerships between the two competing health systems once seemed unlikely. He compared them to the longstanding rivalry between MU and the University of Kansas.

Patrick Delafontaine, dean of the medical school, said many of the physicians at both systems work as faculty at the clinical campus. He also said the program creates a very strong potential for the development of more medical residencies in Springfield, which will increase the physicians chance of staying in the area.

According to previous Tribune reporting, MU sought student input during the medical school expansion process, and students wanted a social area, more light, more power outlets and other amenities. Second-year medical student Alex Katubig said she and her classmates no longer will have to attend lectures and do laboratory work in the basement of MUs Sinclair School of Nursing now that the Patient-Centered Care Learning Center has opened. She said the basement has no windows and much less lab space than the new facility. Student collaboration is important to the medical curriculum, Katubig said, and the more spacious and inviting building encourages that.

tvrbin@columbiatribune.com

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University of Missouri medical school expansion continues with new building - Columbia Daily Tribune