Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

1. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Projecting the Need for Medical Education in Texas October 23, 2008

2. Locations of Texas Medical Schools Medical Schools Other Health Related Institutions Regional Academic Health Centers

3. Medical School Expansion Efforts • Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Paul L. Foster School of Medicine • Texas A&M University System Health Science Center • Lower Rio Grande Valley Regional Academic Health Center

4. Medical education pipeline is long Bachelor’s Degree 4 years Medical Degree 4 years Residency Training 3-8 years

5. Medical education is competitive; 97 percent admitted graduate

6. Since 2002, applicants (unduplicated) to Texas public medical schools increased by 40 percent

7. Since 2005, an additional 150 first-year students have entered medical school in Texas

8. In 2007, the number of female medical graduates surpassed male graduates

9. Entrance into Texas medical schools is growing more competitive

10. African American and Hispanic populations are under-represented among Texas medical school graduates

11. Texas grads have less opportunity to enter medical school than in the past

12. Texas physicians are aging; most practicing physicians are male

13. African American and Hispanic physicians are under-represented among Texas physicians

14. Primary Care Physicians per 100,000 by Region 66 66 73 70 45 56 73 59 65 74 Without Bexar County: 57 Sources: Physicians, Texas Department of State Health Services; Population, Texas State Demographer, 2007

15. Recommendations • The Legislature should fully support the existing health-related institutions and their expansion efforts before committing additional dollars to new projects. • Texas medical schools should continue to increase first-year entering enrollments through 2015, when the Coordinating Board should assess whether additional enrollment increases are necessary. • The Legislature should expand efforts such as the Joint Admission Medical Program, to attract and mentor African American and Hispanic students into careers in medicine.

16. Recommendations • Optimally, the state should encourage growth of more first-year residency positions with a goal of 10 percent more first-year, entry-level residency positions than graduating medical students. • If the Legislature is able to fully support existing commitments in the state and decides to establish an additional medical school, the South Texas region remains a feasible location.

17. Recommendations • Because the state is attractive to physicians educated and trained elsewhere, Texas should initiate a campaign to attract more of the best physicians educated and trained in other states. • Initiatives should be developed to encourage more female physicians to consider practicing in border and non-metropolitan counties.