In 2007, the first class of University of Miami Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM) medical students will begin the four year undergraduate medical education program at the regional medical campus at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The acceptance of these students into a four year private medical school program located on the campus of a public university, which is the culmination of over 10 years of planning and negotiations between the collaborating universities, their respective governing boards, the state legislature and community hospital affiliates, provides a unique model for U.S. medical education. The decision to create a regional campus of the University of Miami medical school at Florida Atlantic University was reached by the Florida Board of Governors and the State Legislature after a lengthy examination of various alternatives to increasing the physician workforce, including: (a) expanding the capacity of the state’s four existing allopathic medical schools, on either their main campuses or through creation of regional campuses; (b) establishing new medical schools; and/or (c) creating new residency programs. As a result of this analysis, the Board of Governors and Legislature concluded that creation of the UMMSM at FAU regional medical campus would be the most cost effective and expedient method to meet the over-arching goal of increasing the supply of physicians practicing in Florida by expanding access to both medical school and residency training in the most heavily populated area of the state. Creation of the UMMSM at FAU regional medical campus was determined to be significantly less expensive for taxpayers than creating new medical schools and considerably less expensive than expanding the enrollment on the main campuses of the existing medical schools. For example, the University of Florida, University of South Florida and University of Miami medical schools have estimated that they could collectively expand their enrollment by 162 students at a cost to the state of approximately $22.4 million in annual operating costs and $69.6 million in facilities costs. Creation of the FSU medical school, with a total enrollment of 480 students, has cost state taxpayers $65 million in facilities costs and approximately $38 million in annual operating costs. By contrast, current estimates indicate the establishment of UMMSM at FAU, which will ultimately have 256 students, will cost state taxpayers $14.4 million in annual operating costs, with no significant new construction funding required in the near future.

Establishment of UMMSM at FAU has also created a window of opportunity for UMMSM to develop and implement a truly unique and innovative educational track on the regional medical campus that will be distinguished from the main campus curriculum by (a) a major emphasis on community-based training in multiple community hospital and outpatient sites that is very different from the primarily in-patient based University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital Medical Center experience; (b) extensive experience with continuity care of chronic illness, health maintenance / disease prevention, and team-based complex disease management with an emphasis on caring for the aging population in a community setting; and (c) integration of new competencies such as process evaluation, quality management, outcomes assessment, patient satisfaction, patient safety and systems-based care into the curriculum. In addition, the smaller class size on the regional medical campus provides an opportunity for lower student/faculty ratios and a much more personal, individualized and interactive learning environment.

UMMSM is in the process of establishing academic affiliations with multiple community hospitals, including Boca Raton Community Hospital, which plans to build a new facility on the FAU campus that will serve as the regional medical campus’ primary teaching hospital. An application has already been submitted for the first new UMMSM-sponsored residency program in internal medicine at JFK Medical Center and the West Palm Beach V.A. Medical Center. Additional residency programs are being considered including surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, emergency medicine and medical and surgical subspecialties, with a total of approximately 250-300 positions. Creation of these residency programs in a region of the state that currently has no allopathic residency training will have a positive impact on the regions supply of physicians within five years. Statistics show most physicians establish their medical practices in the communities where they complete their residency training. These new residency programs will also enhance the ability of participating hospitals to attract academically-oriented faculty and well-funded, cutting-edge biomedical research programs, which has traditionally resulted in improved medical care and health outcomes for the entire community. The presence of the UMMSM at FAU regional medical campus and its affiliated teaching hospitals is also anticipated to have a highly beneficial “ripple effect” on the economy throughout Palm Beach and the geographic region as a whole.

With the acceptance of our charter four year class in 2007, UMMSM at FAU will join only two other medical schools in North America with four year regional campuses. The academic medical, healthcare, and federal and state policymaking communities are monitoring the progress of UMMSM at FAU. UMMSM at FAU is off to a great start, and there is every reason to believe that the four year regional medical campus will prove to be one of the most cost-effective and innovative mechanisms to increase the supply of physicians throughout the nation.