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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A plan to bring a physician training campus to Springfield is getting more support from university and hospital officials, who say the campus will help alleviate a critical shortage of medical personnel in southwest Missouri.
Planning for the University of Missouri School of Medicine's new Springfield Clinical campus began nearly a decade ago but has gained momentum recently as the University of Missouri, Missouri State University and Springfield leaders lobbied state government to fund the campus and a new occupational therapy program.
And last week, CoxHealth said it would provide $500,000 for scholarships for medical students training in Springfield, while Missouri State and Mercy Springfield announced plans for a clinic for uninsured, low-income residents. Also, the University of Missouri said it wants to work with Missouri State, CoxHealth and Mercy Springfield in several ways, including expanding clinical research, health care training and medical residency programs, The Springfield News-Leader reported (http://sgfnow.co/1ANro9Q ).
"What we are seeing here, I believe, is a new dawn in terms of medical education that will support this part of Missouri," said R. Bowen Loftin, chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia. "But also model perhaps elsewhere in the state for us to forward and find ways to place doctors where they are most needed."
Steve Edwards, president and CEO of CoxHealth, said 40,000 health care job openings currently exist within a 50-mile radius of Springfield. The new Springfield campus will eventually train up to 64 future physicians a year.
"Obviously we're hoping some of the doctors who train here will stay here in the Ozarks and serve our communities in this part of the state," said Jay Guffey, chief operating officer of Mercy Springfield. "We also hope that the availability of this campus will encourage students from southwest Missouri to take a closer look at all the jobs in the health care field, knowing they can get training close to home."
Annual funding includes $10 million for the clinical campus and $1.3 million for the occupational therapy program at Missouri State, along with expanding the nursing program at Missouri State's West Plains campus.
"We think we are over the hump in funding," Missouri State president Clif Smart said.
Missouri State is notifying the 24 students selected this fall for the occupational therapy program, the first one offered in southern Missouri. The University of Missouri is also admitting additional medical students, many of whom will transfer to Springfield for two years of training when the clinical campus opens next year.
Later this year, Mercy Springfield and Missouri State will partner to provide a new primary care program to expand health care access to uninsured, low-income residents, which is expected to provide educational opportunities for students in College of Health and Human Services at Missouri State.
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
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