The U School of Medicine might have to cut back on medical students and department programs if it doesn’t receive additional sources of revenue from the Utah Legislature this session.
The medical school, which traditionally receives its majority of funding from tuition, clinical revenue from the U Hospital, private donations and grants, lost $10 million from its $30 million budget for education Fall Semester and is now in dire straits.
“We’re already at the bottom of the barrel,” said David Bjorkman, dean of the School of Medicine. “If something isn’t done to somehow replace that federal money…we may have to cut our class size.”
The U medical school received the $10 million annually from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The money was discontinued last fall when the center said the state was receiving an “inappropriate” amount of funds for Medicaid patients.
“These were funds we had withheld from the state because they were inappropriately applied,” said Mike Fierberg, spokesman for the center.
Fierberg said the center was billed excessive funds from the state of
Utah, but that the state is appealing the case.
In the meantime, the medical school is now forced to handle a 33 percent budget cut and is hoping the Legislature, which recently initiated additional budget cuts state-wide, could help offset its funding problems.
Bjorkman said the 4 percent ongoing budget cut from the Utah State Legislature that was implemented in the fall and the recently proposed one-time 3.5 percent cut are not affecting the school as deeply as other departments across campus.
The medical school’s education budget was hit badly with the lost federal revenue and some medical departments, including internal medicine and surgery, will need to minimize their department expenses by up to 50 percent.
“We haven’t had any hiring freezes or mandatory salary cuts but everything is on the table for next year,” Bjorkman said. “We’ve already taken huge measures by trying to absorb the cuts with one-time sources of funding, money we’ve put aside, but now we’ve exhausted all of our other pools of money.”
The federal and state cuts could have negative consequences for the state economy as well.
“We provide health care8212;we’re the biggest Medicare provider in the state,” Bjorkman said. “It’s not just the education money. Everything else is jeopardized in this.”
The U medical school has the primary physician-training program for Utah and states such as Nevada and Idaho that don’t have medical schools. Bjorkman said the $10 million funding loss will also affect how much the U medical school can offset the shortage of physicians in Utah.
Bjorkman is working with Kim Wirthlin, vice president of government relations at the U, to request funding from the Legislature to help offset costs. The U Hospital has already promised to take care of $4 million of the medical school’s lost revenue, but the school will still need additional funds.
“We don’t see the Legislature as a villain here, but as potential allies,” Bjorkman said. “We’re probably the only group in the state that lost one-third of their educational funds before state cuts.”
Departments will create and present a plan of ways to minimize departmental costs in May, but the school might need to decrease the number of students admitted every year and increase tuition costs, said John Zone, chairman of a mission-based management team that distributes money to departments and a dermatology professor at the school.
Porter Jones, a fourth year medical student graduating in May, said he isn’t concerned about the rising costs of tuition, but cutting the number of students admitted to school is a grave concern.
“We already have a shortage of physicians in the state, and with a lack of students going into the primary care fields, such as internal medicine, family care and OB GYN, and our state growing as fast as it is, we’re going to have problems,” Jones said.
Carrie Johnson, a second year medical student, said tuition at the U’s medical school is already below average and that increases wouldn’t pose too much of a problem.
The medical school and the U raise tuition every year, but Zone said that in 2009, tuition will have to go up more than usual.
“If we are fortunate, we can make up the difference with alternative revenue sources, such as money generated from patient care, to pay for educational costs,” Zone said. “This is certainly the most difficult year we’ll have to face, though.”