States adding med schools to bolster workforce.(Practice Trends)

Several states are in the process of adding new medical schools to shore up expected shortfalls in the physician workforce.

The United States could see physician shortages run as high as 85,000 physicians by 2020, according to government estimates. States will have to start expanding medical school enrollment now to avoid shortages down the road, the Association of American Medical Colleges recently warned.

The response from the states is to train more physicians.

Florida State University's College of Medicine, accredited just last year, became the first new allopathic medical school in more than 20 years. Together with expansion of existing schools, Florida's medical schools will more than double enrollment, up to 1,100 students.

Evidently not satisfied with that increase, the board of governors of the state university system recently approved proposals to set up two more medical schools, one at Florida International University and the other at the University of Central Florida. Those medical schools could be up and enrolling by 2008.

Other states are also considering new medical schools as a way to bring physicians into their communities. The University of California at Merced, barely out of the box itself, presented a proposal this month to set up a medical school by 2012.

California currently has to recruit physicians from out of state because of a gap between the number of doctors trained in the state and the number needed, said Peter Warren, a spokesman for the California Medical Association.