New Mexico’s shortage of medical professionals emerged as an important talking point during yesterday’s opening session of the Legislative Finance Committee.
Mike Richards, CEO of the University of New Mexico Health System, brought up a range of topics relating to UNM’s capacity for training the next generations of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners.
State Senator George Munoz, of Gallup, and chair of the LFC, raised questions about the university’s and New Mexico’s approach to fostering more healthcare providers for the state and from the state.
Munoz said New Mexico is currently short about 8,000 medical professionals to serve the state’s care needs, and asked Richards if we should establish a second medical school in the state at New Mexico State University to address the challenge.
“You look at Arizona and they have two medical schools, maybe three," said Munoz.
"But new Mexico only has one. Have we strangled ourselves by not allowing NMSU have a medical school?”
Richards admitted that the university has not kept pace with the need but added that the easiest way for the state to do so is by using the established infrastructure and existing accreditation at UNM and expanding it accordingly.
“What we believe and we think our data shows, is that a state institution like the University of New Mexico, which is committed to New Mexicans for bringing into the medical school—
and uses its own clinical delivery system for that education—does actually give us a high quality education product and the most likely oppty for them to stay in the state,” said Richards.
Richards said that UNM is currently developing a five-to-ten year plan for doubling the size of the school of medicine.
