On the verge of one of the nation’s most severe physician shortages, New Jersey is getting a new medical school. I am referring to the announcement made in November that Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick will serve as a regional medical campus for the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.
That is good news for New Jersey. The state’s only other medical schools are part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) — the New Jersey Medical School in Newark; Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Brunswick and Camden; and the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford.
That is not enough. Physicians are fleeing New Jersey at an alarming rate. According to a study by the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals, the Garden State will face a shortage of more than 2,800 physicians 10 years from now.
We are projected to face widespread shortages in a broad range of primary care specialties including family medicine, geriatrics, obstetrics and general surgery.
We are expected to fare far worse than our neighboring states. One reason is money; it costs a lot to start a practice here, and malpractice insurance rates are unusually high. The state’s complicated maze of regulations is another problem.
But it is not just an issue in New Jersey. With nearly half the country’s physicians projected to retire in the next 15 years, the United States could face a deficit of as many as 150,000 physicians by 2025, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
In primary care alone, the United States may need an additional 45,000 doctors by 2020 simply to keep pace with its needs. By contrast, medical school students entering family medicine have fallen by a quarter. This all comes at a time when our aging population needs more medical services than ever before. Anew medical school is a big bonus for the Garden State.
Here’s how it will work. Drexel medical students in their third and fourth years will be able to complete their required course work at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, where they will receive training in core clinical areas such as surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, neurology and psychiatry.
Since New Jersey residents make up the third-largest contingent among states represented in the Drexel program, more than a few are sure to remain here after graduation.
With plans to graduate more than 20 additional students into medicine every year, the Saint Peter’s-Drexel partnership is one more solution to a problem that threatens the foundation of effective and accessible health care.
It also is the leader in what appears to be an encouraging trend in New Jersey. Last month, Cooper Health System and Rowan University in Glassboro announced they would open a medical school in Camden in 2012.
The social, economic and health benefits of these sorts of partnerships are obvious. There is no need for investment in buildings, campuses and staff, yet New Jersey adds the resources of one of the largest medical schools in the country. At the same time, Drexel gets access to the services of specialists and technology at Saint Peter’s.
By joining forces, the Drexel University College of Medicine and Saint Peter’s University Hospital are playing their part to ensure that state residents will not be caught short now or in the future.
Nayan Kothari, M.D., is chief academic officer of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, clinical professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine and associate dean for education at Drexel University College of Medicine.