WSU, UW wage PR war over medical school

  • By Sharon Salyer and Jerry Cornfield Herald Writers
  • Monday, September 15, 2014 7:59pm
  • Local NewsLocal news

EVERETT — The more Washington State University officials talk of the need for a medical school east of the Cascades, the more University of Washington leaders say it’s a bad idea.

On Monday, three days after WSU regents approved the undertaking, Orin Smith, a UW regent, stepped into the fray. He sharply criticized a consultant’s study analyzing the need for a new medical school under WSU, saying it was “based upon faulty assumptions, omissions and erroneous data.”

WSU’s drive to open a new medical school in Spokane is rapidly morphing into a major public relations battle with its cross-state rival in Seattle. UW established the state’s only public medical school in 1946. Today, UW runs a five-state medical-school program in which WSU participates.

Pullman-based WSU maintains that despite that regional program, there is a physician shortage in Washington that will only grow as baby-boomer doctors, particularly primary care physicians, begin to retire and the state’s population continues to grow.

The shortage is particularly acute outside Washington’s metropolitan areas. Seventeen counties have fewer than 10 doctors per 10,000 people, according to the resolution backing a new medical school approved by WSU’s board of regents.

WSU has launched a public-relations blitz to build a case, scheduling meetings in communities across the state. On Monday, university leaders and the consultants who prepared the report for regents visited The Herald to make that pitch.

Lisa Brown, a WSU chancellor and a former state Senate Majority leader, said that the idea of establishing a medical school in Spokane dates to 1974. The university has since made a series of investments in health science programs at a campus in Spokane, she said.

The cost of establishing a new medical school will not require a capital investment because WSU has a new $80 million biomedical and health sciences building in Spokane. That could eventually be home to 120 medical students per entering class, she said.

“The interesting thing about this model is I think a lot of people were expecting this huge cost,” Brown said.

The initial cost of preparing to open the school would be relatively small — about $2.5 million over the next two years to begin the process of accreditation and cover associated costs. By the time the school is fully operational, in about 10 years, the state would need to contribute $24 million a year for operating costs, Brown said.

So making the case for the new medical school is likely to face some major political challenges. Ultimately, for WSU to proceed, it will need lawmakers and Gov. Jay Inslee to tweak state laws and provide funding.

The request comes at a time when the Legislature is facing daunting budget issues, including orders by the state Supreme Court to increase funding for public schools and to find money to house mentally ill patients.

And many areas of the state are in need of major transportation improvements, which the Legislature so far has been unable to fund.

Nevertheless, “We don’t think it is such a complicated ask,” said Michael Worthy, chairman of the WSU Board of Regents.

Finding enough health care workers to treat sick patients requires more than just getting more students into medical schools, however. A big problem facing future doctors is finding a residency after they graduate from medical school.

That’s where doctors get additional training under the supervision of other doctors, with the resident’s salary paid by the federal government.

There’s a national shortage of residency openings. In March, the Association of American Medical Colleges said that several hundred medical students in the U.S. were unable to be matched with a residency.

Brown and other backers of a WSU medical school say that the shortage of doctors is a problem that is not going to go away. “So let’s get started on a solution to this problem,” she said. “Ultimately, we believe it is a solution that both the UW and WSU could contribute to. It is not an either or,” she said.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.