CMU Med School A Go By 2011 - Saginaw, Midland, Mt. Pleasant Locations Eyed
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Dr. Sam Kottamasu, Saginaw radiologist, heads CMU Medical School committee.
State Sen. Tony Stamas with local court officials from northern counties at hearing.
The medical school projected by Central Michigan University to help meet a coming shortage of physicians, that MyBayCity.com told you about a few weeks ago, is coming to fruition.
The CMU board last Friday put the stamp of approval on the plan as shaped by President Michael Rao and Dr. Sarn Kottamasu, radiologist, of Saginaw, a CMU board member and chair of the medical school committee.
"CMU will begin to educate its inaugural class of 100 future physicians as early as fall 2011," the university announced.
Although Saginaw has been discussed as a potential location for the CMU medical school, now it appears that Midland and Mt. Pleasant also are under consideration.
Saginaw city officials recently sold a 60-acre former dump site on the Saginaw River for $1 to a local medical group headed by neurosurgeons E. Malcolm Field and Gerald R. Schell.
The deal provided that the group must spend $10 million on the site within five years, and a consultant for CMU projected the initial cost of the school at $50 million.
Jeffrey R. Schell is project director for the Saginaw plan that envisions a center to rival the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minnesota.
Dr. Rao said the investment for the medical school will come from university reserve funds.
The potential site in Saginaw, that is close to large hospitals and a greater population base, was not discussed by CMU trustees.
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 1304 to ease financing for new hospitals and medical facilities is wending its way through the Michigan Legislature under sponsorship of Sen. Tony Stamas of Midland.
The bill would authorize the State Hospital Finance Authority to make loans to new hospital projects, legislation that could be key to the CMU project or could bolster associated facilities.
The Hospital Finance Authority Act governs the operation of the State Hospital Finance Authority, which was established "to issue bonds and make loans to hospitals, nursing homes, homes for the aged, hospices and certain retirement housing providers to finance and refinance the acquisition, construction, improvement or alteration of hospital facilities and the payment of project costs."
Senate Bill 1304 would revise the definition of "hospital" in the act (MCL 331.33) to include public entities. This means the act would include both public and nonpublic facilities; however, the bill would exclude from the definition health facilities and agencies located in correctional institutions, veterans facilities, and facilities operated and owned by the Department of Community Health.
The Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority (MSHFA) was created in 1969 by the Michigan legislature by Act No. 38, Public Acts of Michigan, 1969, to issue bonds and make loans to hospitals, nursing homes, homes for the aged, hospices and certain retirement housing providers to finance and refinance the acquisition, construction, improvement or alteration of hospital facilities and the payment of project costs.
The MSHFA mission statement declares: "The Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority will provide low cost capital financing to non-profit providers of health care services that participate in any phase of the continuum of health care."
Regarding the Saginaw initiative, "the main negotiations are for the clinical clerkship," Dr. Kottamasu said recently. "We are still negotiating for (the location of) hospital facilities."
"Citing the institution's responsibility to help Michigan prepare for an impending shortage of 6,000 physicians by 2020, the CMU Board of Trustees last week authorized President Rao to proceed with establishing a school of medicine."
The university information states: "Numerous feasibility studies demonstrating CMU's strength in the basic sciences, library resources and instructional technology, coupled with programs within The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions and the College of Science and Technology, provided a strong foundation to establish a school of medicine that meets the accreditation standards of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education."
"This reflects the responsibility and foresight an educational institution like CMU must have to meet the future health care needs of Michigan residents," said CMU Board of Trustees Chairman Jeffrey R. Caponigro, a Southfield business executive.
"This is an important, visionary move that will benefit the entire state. Extensive feasibility studies have confirmed the board's belief that Central Michigan University is well-prepared to move forward with the establishment of a school of medicine." The ongoing budget structure for the operation of a CMU school of medicine would come from privately raised funds and tuition. The program would have a rural focus with a hybrid instructional model in a clinical context as opposed to research or clinical practice. The school of medicine also would focus on diseases most prevalent in mid- and northern Michigan regions.
Trustees also authorized the hiring of an architectural and engineering firm to prepare the design and construction documents for an addition to the Health Professions Building to house the proposed school of medicine.
It would do a great deal for joint research between area hospitals and academic medical facilities, he said, as well as improve the state of Michigan's economy.
"There is (evidence of) a 20 percent shortage of physicians in the country," Kottamasu said. "The shortage would be most severe in rural Michigan."
Kottamasu, a radiologist with Advanced Diagnostic Imaging P.C., in Saginaw and clinical professor of radiology at Wayne State University's School of Medicine, was appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm on January 27, 2005, for an eight-year term.
Dr. Kottamasu served as vice chief of radiology, director of nuclear medicine and director of the radiology residency program at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit; as division head of pediatric radiology at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit; and assistant professor of radiology at University of Michigan's School of Medicine.
He has been instrumental in bringing international students to the university to study for their MBA degrees. He plans to continue facilitating partnerships between CMU and other universities and area hospitals.
He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Andhra University, India. He has more than 60 publications in peer reviewed journals and text books and coauthored a text book. He is a recipient of several research grants. Dr. Kottamasu and his wife live in Saginaw.
By the year 2020, he said there will be 6,000 less physicians in the state.
With the growing problem, medical school plans are not anything new to public universities, as Kottamasu said many such projects have been proposed across the country.
"The medical school is a very powerful economic engine for the area," he said. "CMU is the fourth largest university in Michigan ... (and) has about 3,000 students in the College of Health Professions. It's natural for CMU to develop on (this) and build a medical school."
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