Sam Houston med school plan approved
State board signs off on Huntsville-based university’s proposal
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board signed off on Sam Houston State University’s plan to start a medical school Tuesday, two months before it is scheduled to consider a similar proposal by the University of Houston.
Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes said the approval of a doctorate in osteopathic medicine at Sam Houston shouldn’t affect the chances of UH’s proposed medical college, a long-time dream the university’s board finally committed to last November. “I don’t see the two proposals as being competitive,” said Paredes. “We’ll evaluate the UH proposal on its own merits and go from there.”
Paredes downplayed the fact both schools aim to train primarycare doctors to practice in underserved areas. He noted that Sam Houston’s will focus on rural areas in east Texas and UH’s will focus on urban and not-yet-defined rural areas. He called UH’s planned medical degree a traditional medical school, in comparison to Sam Houston’s degree in osteopathic medicine, which is more hands-on, holistic and prevention oriented.
Jason Smith, UH’s vice president of governmental relations, echoed Paredes comments in a statement, calling the Houston proposal “separate and distinct from what was considered today. We believe the board will judge ours on the merits of our own proposal that builds on our existing health programs and research and a commitment to nearly 400 residency slots.”
The last comment refers to plans for UH doctors-in-training to rotate through Hospital Corporation of America Gulf Coast Division facilities. Such residency slots are considered important to Texas because a current shortage results in many students educated in Texas going out of state for their training. Studies show a high proportion of such trainees stay in those other states to work.
Sam Houston’s degree program includes 20 affiliation agreements with 20 East Texas hospitals.
Texas desperately needs more doctors. It ranks 47th out of 50 states in the ratio of primary-care doctors per person, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the shortage is expected to get worse.
Two new Houston-area medical schools would make for a crowded field. Currently, the region has Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas’ McGovern Medical School in the Texas Medical Center, UT Medical Branch at Galveston 55 miles to the south, and Texas A&M Medical School 100 miles to the north. Sam Houston is 70 miles north of Houston. A UH medical school would be the first in Houston in nearly 50 years.
Sam Houston’s plans for its medical school call for it to be entirely self-funded (mostly through tuition), which Paredes said was a condition of the coordinating board’s approval. UH’s plans call for a request of $40 million in legislative funding over 10 years. An anonymous donor has pledged to pay for all four years of the first class’ tuition.
The Sam Houston proposed school must still be approved by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. If UH’s school is approved by the coordinating board, it must still be accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
Paredes said he has not yet looked at UH’s plan and added that staff must conduct a UH site visit in order for the proposal to come before the board at its Oct. 25 meeting.
Both Sam Houston and UH hope to admit their first class of students in fall 2020.