It is possible that a medical school could open on the campus of the University of Rhode Island by 2030, with the expectation that 70 percent of graduates would remain in Rhode Island, helping address the state’s primary care physician shortage, according to Gov. Dan McKee.
McKee said on WBLQ’s Morning Show that the study commission’s plan for a URI medical facility was a “good proposal…that plan is pretty sound right now.”
The governor said he was encouraged by a funding plan that includes the university raising $150 million for the project, after the state invests an initial $20 million in what McKee called the “startup” phase, money that would be used for “startup and hiring strategies. “
That $20 million could be “available as early as this year,” McKee said, possibly through a bond or from the $156 million that the state will receive from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, funds that will be allotted over the next five years.
“If they (the university) can come up with the dollars, I’ll certainly be supportive,” McKee said.
A commission was appointed last year to study the feasibility of developing the medical school, in recognition of the physician shortage – which is nationwide – and that few Rhode Islanders enroll in the Brown University Medical School.
McKee said the expectation would be that 70 percent of the graduates would remain in Rhode Island, with the state providing some tuition reimbursement that would be coupled with a commitment by the students to remain in state for some specified period.
URI already has well respected nursing and pharmaceutical programs.
“We’re really focused on the primary care issue,” McKee said. Rhode Island’s Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement programs for physicians fall far behind neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The state does control the Medicaid reimbursements, and McKee did not specifically address whether there will be an effort in this legislative session to again raise rates to be more competitive with neighboring states.
He said, however, that changing Medicare reimbursements to be more competitive is “something we need to battle for. This is a problem and it really disturbs me.”
Medicare rates are determined by regional formulas, with both Connecticut and Massachusetts providing significantly higher physician reimbursement than Rhode Island.
McKee said he has talked to Congressional leaders from both parties, along with Dr. Mehmet Congiz Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
