UAMS chief casts proposal as 'step' to new medical school

University of Arkansas students walk past Old Main Sept. 3, 2014 on in Fayetteville.
University of Arkansas students walk past Old Main Sept. 3, 2014 on in Fayetteville.

The plan to create a new three-year medical degree program in Fayetteville is a "step" toward a new medical school for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Chancellor Cam Patterson said Wednesday.

"This is a step in the direction of fulfilling one of our goals in our strategic plan, Vision 2029, and that is to have a second College of Medicine in Northwest Arkansas," Patterson told members of the University of Arkansas System board of trustees.

UAMS is proposing a shortened, three-year degree program for primary care physicians that would not be offered at the main Little Rock campus, but instead would be fully based at its UAMS Northwest regional site, which opened in 2007.

Patterson said the proposal stops short of creating a "second" college. But he spoke of the creation of an "expanded medical faculty for UAMS in Northwest Arkansas."

Dr. Christopher Westfall, dean of the UAMS College of Medicine, said Wednesday that the incoming medical student class would remain at 174 if the three-year degree program were approved. Up to 20 students within that group would be allowed to start in the three-year program, he said.

"It would not be an expansion of the current class size," Westfall said.

The current degree program requires four years of study. Board documents say that helping future primary care physicians reduce their student debt is a reason for having a three-year option.

Westfall told trustees that the three-year program aims to keep medical school graduates in Arkansas while also providing "our communities throughout the state with good primary care doctors." He also clarified that the primary care option would be for students with an interest in pediatric medicine, family practice, internal medicine or obstetrics/gynecology.

Students in the program would agree to complete their residency training in Arkansas, Westfall said, though it's unclear if such an agreement would be legally binding.

Trustees on an academic committee voted unanimously in favor of the proposal Wednesday, with the full 10-member board set to take final action today. Further approval from the state Higher Education Coordinating Board would still be required.

Patterson said that if approved, the program would begin this fall.

He also discussed talks with leaders of a separate initiative to build a medical school in Bentonville. Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, earlier this month announced plans for the Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences to open in 2024.

"We have ongoing conversations with the Whole Health Institute looking at ways in which we can work together. And we've been wide open about this, including up to the point of inviting them to assist us with our curriculum, if they were interested in doing that," Patterson told trustees.

He said collaborations might include the sharing of faculty and facilities, but he added that discussions "are really at the stage of developing ideas rather than bringing ideas to fruition."

Trustees on Wednesday endorsed the new degree program.

"I really believe that this may be one of the best programs ever be introduced here in the state of Arkansas," Sheffield Nelson, a Little Rock attorney, said. He said the three-year option addresses concerns students have over debt and the affordability of medical school.

Morril Harriman, a Little Rock attorney, asked about the availability of residency slots in the state for medical school graduates.

Officials in the state and elsewhere have spoken about a need for more residency training opportunities, which have not kept pace with the number of medical school students.

In 2020, for the main residency matching program, there were 40,084 medical school students and graduates applying for a total of 37,256 three- to seven-year residency positions, according to data from the National Resident Matching Program.

Patterson said 84 residency slots have been added over the past 24 months in North Little Rock in collaboration with Baptist Health.

"We're working with Washington Regional Hospital in Northwest Arkansas to add 80 additional graduate medical education slots," Patterson said, adding that UAMS is also adding a regional campus in El Dorado, in south Arkansas, that will result in nine additional residency slots.

Patterson said U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., is planning to reintroduce a bill to expand graduate medical education.

"I think given the climate in Washington right now, that bill is very likely to succeed," Patterson said.

The trustees will also today consider a UAMS proposal to build a 185,000-square-foot orthopedic and sports medicine facility in Northwest Arkansas at an estimated cost of $85 million.

While the facility would not be an in-patient hospital, UAMS officials have said it would have operating rooms and bring in revenue from surgical procedures. Marlon Blackwell Architects and DSC Architects are listed as the preferred architects, according to the proposal. For his building designs, Blackwell has been honored with top awards, including the 2020 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.

UAMS in 2019 expanded its orthopedic health care into Northwest Arkansas through a partnership with an existing practice, according to an October 2019 announcement.

Employment records released to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last year showed that UAMS from late 2019 through mid-2020 had hired seven orthopedists or sports medicine doctors as clinical assistant professors at an average yearly salary of about $500,000.

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