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Campbell Med School Seeks To Fill Gaps in Rural Coverage
Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dan Way, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.
State's first med school in 35 years could be second-largest
BUIES CREEK - Campbell University expects to play a lead role in the transformation of health care delivery in North Carolina, and to aid ailing rural communities by sending them health care professionals from its new School of Osteopathic Medicine, school officials said Thursday.
"Unless we convince doctors and those in the medical profession to make their home in rural North Carolina, we're not going to succeed in rebuilding rural North Carolina," Gov. Pat McCrory said at the dedication ceremony of the 96,500-square-foot building, the first medical school in 35 years to launch in North Carolina.
"What Campbell has done is help us achieve this goal," McCrory said.
"For a long time my foundation has had a deep interest in providing quality health care for all," said Rockingham native Leon Levine. He is founder of the nationwide Family Dollar chain stores and a principal benefactor of the namesake $80 million brick-and-glass Leon Levine Hall of Medical Sciences housing an array of research labs and simulators.
"Without the proper amount of physicians, physician assistants, and other health care professionals we cannot begin to solve this critical challenge," Levine said. "Campbell plans to graduate 150 or more physicians and 40 P.A.s per year. It will go a long way in dealing with the challenges and issues right here in rural North Carolina."
At that graduation rate, Campbell would have the second largest medical school in the state. The four existing medical schools combined graduate about 450 new physicians annually. Campbell projects it will have 600 medical school students enrolled by 2017 when it graduates its first class.
Campbell President Jerry Wallace told the dedication assemblage of 700 politicians, health care officials, education leaders, students, faculty, staff, and well-wishers there is a pressing need for physicians in North Carolina.
"We must find ways to serve the underserved. In the 21st century in North Carolina it is not acceptable that in 20 counties of our state there [are] no obstetrician-gynecologists to care for women, or in 20 more counties no general surgeon to save lives when time and access are not available in distant cities," Wallace said.
"We must educate a team of health care professionals to be a one-stop center who know how and are committed to caring for families. Physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, physical therapists, public health workers, social workers, and chaplains who work together to care for body, mind, and spirit of their patients," Wallace said.
"That is the need of North Carolina. It is the need of the nation," he said.
"We rank 30th out of 50 [states] in providers per capita, and 34th out of 50 in primary care providers per capita, said John Kauffman, dean of Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine.
With 7,660 primary care physicians, North Carolina averages 8.8 per 10,000 residents, compared with the 9.43 nationwide average.
"So a school of this size, this magnitude, designed to train primary care physicians and general specialists, is really what we believe is needed in the state at this time to correct some of the disparities, and shortages, and health care imbalances for the people especially in rural and underserved North Carolina," Kauffman said in an interview after the dedication ceremony.
"We believe the health care model of the future will draw upon physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists who can all work in concert to take the best care of the patients" he said.
Ronald Maddox, Campbell's vice president of health programs and dean of the College of Pharmacy Health Sciences, said providing that sort of care level is known as a medical home model. That will be the basis of Campbell student education and training.
Data compiled by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, which serves as a health advisor to the nation, "supports the concept that complex medical issues can be best addressed by professional teams," Maddox said. "Understanding the unique role of each member of the team and their contribution to patient care will help ensure a continuity of care and to prevent duplication of efforts."
At the same time, the nation faces "an unprecedented shortage of health care providers," Kauffman said. The shortage is being fueld by population growth, an exodus of physicians unwilling to work under strictures and uncertainties of the Affordable Care Act, and retirements.
"By the year 2020 the American Association of Medical Colleges projects that we will be 90,000 physicians short. Half of that number will be in primary care and the other half will be in specialties," Kauffman said. "By 2025 that shortage is expected to grow to 130,000, and, in fact, in the next decade approximately 250,000 physicians nationally will reach retirement age."
Kauffman said those market forces will result in more physician assistants and nurse practitioners doing tasks previously reserved for physicians.
"We think for practitioners out practicing independently is not as strong" as having them work under the guidance and in collaboration with physicians, Kauffman said.
In medicine "it's extremely important for people to know their limitations," he said. By collaborating to maximize individual strengths, the medical home team "can discuss cases and provide the best care. If something is out of your depth you get assistance."
Some training "on the horizon" will be the result of the Affordable Care Act. One is meaningful use, "the idea of having quality outcomes that we're measuring physicians on," Kauffman said.
"So the physicians of the future will be very much focused on not so much volume and productivity but really on quality outcomes. We see that as a very good thing for health care and it's an opportunity really for us to direct that curriculum and teach early on," he said.
Preventative care also will be emphasized under Obamacare.
"In this country we're good at diagnosing and treating disease, and I believe the obesity epidemic is proof we're not so good at preventing it," Kauffman said.
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State's first med school in 35 years could be second-largest
The initial class of medical students at Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine gather Thursday outside Levine Hall at the school's opening ceremony.
"Unless we convince doctors and those in the medical profession to make their home in rural North Carolina, we're not going to succeed in rebuilding rural North Carolina," Gov. Pat McCrory said at the dedication ceremony of the 96,500-square-foot building, the first medical school in 35 years to launch in North Carolina.
"What Campbell has done is help us achieve this goal," McCrory said.
"For a long time my foundation has had a deep interest in providing quality health care for all," said Rockingham native Leon Levine. He is founder of the nationwide Family Dollar chain stores and a principal benefactor of the namesake $80 million brick-and-glass Leon Levine Hall of Medical Sciences housing an array of research labs and simulators.
"Without the proper amount of physicians, physician assistants, and other health care professionals we cannot begin to solve this critical challenge," Levine said. "Campbell plans to graduate 150 or more physicians and 40 P.A.s per year. It will go a long way in dealing with the challenges and issues right here in rural North Carolina."
At that graduation rate, Campbell would have the second largest medical school in the state. The four existing medical schools combined graduate about 450 new physicians annually. Campbell projects it will have 600 medical school students enrolled by 2017 when it graduates its first class.
Campbell President Jerry Wallace told the dedication assemblage of 700 politicians, health care officials, education leaders, students, faculty, staff, and well-wishers there is a pressing need for physicians in North Carolina.
"We must find ways to serve the underserved. In the 21st century in North Carolina it is not acceptable that in 20 counties of our state there [are] no obstetrician-gynecologists to care for women, or in 20 more counties no general surgeon to save lives when time and access are not available in distant cities," Wallace said.
"We must educate a team of health care professionals to be a one-stop center who know how and are committed to caring for families. Physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, physical therapists, public health workers, social workers, and chaplains who work together to care for body, mind, and spirit of their patients," Wallace said.
"That is the need of North Carolina. It is the need of the nation," he said.
"We rank 30th out of 50 [states] in providers per capita, and 34th out of 50 in primary care providers per capita, said John Kauffman, dean of Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine.
With 7,660 primary care physicians, North Carolina averages 8.8 per 10,000 residents, compared with the 9.43 nationwide average.
"So a school of this size, this magnitude, designed to train primary care physicians and general specialists, is really what we believe is needed in the state at this time to correct some of the disparities, and shortages, and health care imbalances for the people especially in rural and underserved North Carolina," Kauffman said in an interview after the dedication ceremony.
"We believe the health care model of the future will draw upon physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists who can all work in concert to take the best care of the patients" he said.
Ronald Maddox, Campbell's vice president of health programs and dean of the College of Pharmacy Health Sciences, said providing that sort of care level is known as a medical home model. That will be the basis of Campbell student education and training.
Data compiled by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine, which serves as a health advisor to the nation, "supports the concept that complex medical issues can be best addressed by professional teams," Maddox said. "Understanding the unique role of each member of the team and their contribution to patient care will help ensure a continuity of care and to prevent duplication of efforts."
At the same time, the nation faces "an unprecedented shortage of health care providers," Kauffman said. The shortage is being fueld by population growth, an exodus of physicians unwilling to work under strictures and uncertainties of the Affordable Care Act, and retirements.
"By the year 2020 the American Association of Medical Colleges projects that we will be 90,000 physicians short. Half of that number will be in primary care and the other half will be in specialties," Kauffman said. "By 2025 that shortage is expected to grow to 130,000, and, in fact, in the next decade approximately 250,000 physicians nationally will reach retirement age."
Kauffman said those market forces will result in more physician assistants and nurse practitioners doing tasks previously reserved for physicians.
"We think for practitioners out practicing independently is not as strong" as having them work under the guidance and in collaboration with physicians, Kauffman said.
In medicine "it's extremely important for people to know their limitations," he said. By collaborating to maximize individual strengths, the medical home team "can discuss cases and provide the best care. If something is out of your depth you get assistance."
Some training "on the horizon" will be the result of the Affordable Care Act. One is meaningful use, "the idea of having quality outcomes that we're measuring physicians on," Kauffman said.
"So the physicians of the future will be very much focused on not so much volume and productivity but really on quality outcomes. We see that as a very good thing for health care and it's an opportunity really for us to direct that curriculum and teach early on," he said.
Preventative care also will be emphasized under Obamacare.
"In this country we're good at diagnosing and treating disease, and I believe the obesity epidemic is proof we're not so good at preventing it," Kauffman said.
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