Headlines in the Midlands
USC, GHS boards give final approval to proposed program expansion
USC, Palmetto Health to explore additional physician training in Columbia
GREENVILLE, SC – August 9, 2010 - The University of South Carolina Board
of Trustees took action Friday (Aug. 6) to address the state’s growing
shortage of primary-care physicians and improve access to health care in
the Palmetto State.
The board approved a plan to expand medical education in Greenville and
announced plans to explore opportunities with Palmetto Health to
increase capacity for training more physicians at the School of Medicine
in Columbia.
The Greenville expansion of USC’s medical-education program will be at the Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, which has been a campus of the USC School of Medicine since 1991.
Earlier Friday, the GHS board also approved the expanded program, which
must be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
(SACS) and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME).
The initiative builds on a partnership that has been in place since
1991. That partnership allows third- and fourth-year USC medical
students to complete their final two years of education at GHS. Under
the proposed expansion, approximately 40 students annually will be able
to spend all four years of their medical training at GHS as early as
2012. That number is expected to grow. USC also announced plans to work
with Palmetto Health to increase the number of medical students trained
at the USC School of Medicine campus in Columbia.
USC President Harris Pastides said the actions will address a critical shortage of primary-care physicians in the state.
“We must take immediate steps to produce more physicians of excellence
to offset a growing healthcare crisis in our state,” Pastides said.
“Thus, we are very excited to announce an agreement to expand our
programs in Greenville and to work with the Palmetto Health healthcare
system to add as many additional physicians schooled in the Midlands as
possible.”
Michael C. Riordan, president and CEO of GHS, said the expanded program
in Greenville will help mitigate the long-standing physician shortage in
the state and improve healthcare across South Carolina, particularly
rural areas. The program will also spur job growth, increase per-capita
income and help make the state more attractive to corporations
considering expansion or relocation.
“Having an adequate number of highly trained physicians is critical to
our ability to deliver quality healthcare,” Riordan said. “As one of the
largest health systems in the region working in close partnership with
USC, it is our responsibility to anticipate the future healthcare needs
of our community and address them.”
Charles D. Beaman Jr., CEO of Palmetto Health, said the proposed
expansion offers the best chance for addressing the state’s future
medical needs.
“As the largest health system in central South Carolina and with more
than 30 years invested in the education of physicians, Palmetto Health
applauds efforts being made by the University of South Carolina and
Greenville Hospital System to increase the number of physicians,
especially primary care, being educated in our state,” Beaman said.
“Additionally, we are committed to exploring the expansion of the USC
School of Medicine here in Columbia with President Harris Pastides and
Dean Richard Hoppmann. I believe that an expanded medical school here as
well as an expanded medical program in Greenville, should it be
established, will offer the best chance for South Carolina to address
the future medical needs of our citizens. Palmetto Health is eager to
partner with USC to assure that it can happen.”
Education has always been an integral part of GHS’ mission. In fact, GHS
accepted its first nursing student just three days after its original
Greenville General Hospital opened its doors in 1912. In the nearly 100
years that have followed, GHS has helped train thousands of physicians,
nurses and other healthcare professionals.
“We’re proud of our almost 20-year partnership with USC School of
Medicine and look forward to continuing it so that we can help our
region meet the healthcare challenges ahead of it,” Riordan said.
USC Provost Michael Amiridis said the expansion in Greenville complements USC’s efforts to increase access to healthcare.
“Expanding the medical-education program in Greenville complements USC’s
initiatives to provide more healthcare professionals, from nursing and
pharmacy to social work and public health, for South Carolina,” Amiridis
said.
In recent years, USC has increased the number of undergraduate nursing
majors through its eight-campus system, implemented new
bachelor’s-degree programs in the Arnold School of Public Health and in
social work, and integrated its pharmacy-education program with one at
the Medical University of South Carolina to establish the South Carolina
College of Pharmacy, which has already expanded its statewide mission.
Approximately 25 SCCP students receive some of their training at GHS
during their fourth year.
According to an August 2010 article in The Journal of the South Carolina
Medical Association, South Carolina’s capacity for educating physicians
has not kept pace with the state’s needs, and the state ranks 43rd in
the number of primary-care physicians per 100,000 residents.
Written by former USC President Andrew A. Sorensen, the article cites
data from the Association of American Medical Colleges showing that the
per-capita rate of first-year medical students dropped from 5.96 per
100,000 in 1994 to 5.47 per 100,000 in 2008. In contrast, the
Southeastern average is 5.56, and the national average is 5.86.
Amiridis said the expanded medical-education program will feature
innovative teaching practices, including sending students to community
primary-care settings earlier to expose them to patient care. The
program will have a dean who will report to the provost in Columbia.
USC and GHS officials said the launch of the expansion will not be
financed with state funds and instead will be funded by GHS and by
future-student tuition. Dr. Jerry Youkey, vice president for medical and
academic services at GHS, said expanding the program at GHS is
cost-effective because substantial infrastructure, including clinical
faculty through its University Medical Group and 98,000 square feet of
medical-education facilities, is already in place at the GHS campus.
Pastides said all those factors entered into the decision to expand in Greenville.
“This in no way represents a diminution of our commitment to our fine
medical school in Columbia,” Pastides said. “In fact, the expansion in
Greenville and Columbia is an endorsement of its outstanding tradition
of educating primary-care physicians.”
Pastides said the expanded programs in Columbia and Greenville will
emphasize the primary-care fields, including family medicine, obstetrics
and gynecology, pediatrics, internal medicine and psychiatry, and focus
on recruiting South Carolinians and encouraging them to remain in the
state and practice in underserved rural areas.
“Increasingly, our school and the Medical University of South Carolina
have had to turn away qualified applicants,” Pastides said. “Those
applicants either abandon their plans for medical school or go
elsewhere. Either way, our state loses a pool of potential physicians,
and we cannot afford to let that continue.”
http://www.ghs.org/
