MU announces $18.5M facility
It will expand physician assistant program
Marquette University will break ground this spring along its sleepy, southwestern corridor to build an $18.5 million facility for its high-demand physician assistant program.
Marquette President Michael R. Lovell announced the news in a campus community email Thursday.
The highly visible, 44,000-squarefoot building on the northwest corner of W. Clybourn and N.18th streets will position the three-year physician assistant studies program as one of the largest in the region and nation, according to university officials.
With the new building’s expected opening in fall 2019, the number of students in the program will increase from 90 to 225. Most PA programs have 90 to 150 students.
Physician assistants can provide care and oversee tasks that don’t require
the more extensive training of physicians, such as follow-up care. They also can spend more time with patients, potentially helping health systems improve patient satisfaction.
Physician assistants work in an array of settings, such as emergency departments and operating rooms, said Kurt Mosley, vice president of strategic alliances for Merritt Hawkins, which recruits physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. And in contrast to nurse practitioners, the majority of whom work in primary care, most PAs work in medical specialties.
Physician assistants also are in heavy demand, partly because of physician shortages, and partly because health systems are moving to “teambased care” to help slow the rise in health care costs.
In 2017, physician assistants were the eighth most-requested search for Merritt Hawkins — up from 13th in 2016.
Most of the requested searches were for rural areas, Mosley said.
Demand is high for physicians and other clinicians, including physician assistants and nurse practitioners, in rural Wisconsin. The state has several Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas, including one near Marquette’s campus, according to the state Department of Health Services.
Ten Wisconsin counties need an additional three to 10 primary care providers to close their shortages, according to the state. Marquette is seeing the increase in demand for PAs.
Demand to enter the program is growing by about 10% each year, said William Cullinan, dean of the College of Health Sciences. In the current application cycle, the PA program received nearly 1,400 applications for 30 spots.
Marquette offers undergraduate juniors and seniors an accelerated track into the professional phase of the PA program through a biomedical sciences program. Half the students in the PA program enter from that path.
Marquette’s building will be designed with moveable walls and equipment in some areas, allowing students to work on simulated cases with students in other health-related specialties, Cullinan said. That could help them be more adept at team care.
Beyond its academic mission, the glassy, four-story facility will be “welcoming and community-facing” — highly visible from I-94 to the south — as the university begins to transform its Clybourn St. corridor, according to Lora Strigens, vice president for planning and strategy.
The physician assistant program is housed at the northwest corner of N. 17th and W. Wells streets in a former clinic that was constructed in 1954.
“The program has outgrown its space in an outdated building that does not allow for cost-effective expansion or modernization,” Strigens said.
The new building’s location also puts the PA program closer to Schroeder Complex, which houses the College of Health Sciences’ other programs, as well as the university’s planned Bio-Discovery District.
Marquette has made an investment to start construction and is seeking more money from partners and donors.
Marquette’s PA program, which is ranked No. 40 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, was started in 1997. It has boasted a 100% pass rate on national board exams for the past nine consecutive years, as well as a 100% job placement rate for graduates within six months of completing the program.
UW-Milwaukee offers a pre-PA adviser to help students interested in that degree choose pre-requisite coursework but does not have an accredited PA program. Physician assistant programs are popular alternatives to medical school because students can get through them faster and with less debt.
Students in physician assistant programs train for three years with a oneyear residency, while students in medical school train four years, plus do residencies lasting three to seven years, Cullinan said.
Medical school costs about $200,000, while Marquette’s 33-month PA program costs $112,000, he said.
Once they graduate, physician assistants have more regular hours than MDs, with no on-call obligations. Physician assistants also can change specialties multiple times with on-the-job training, while MDs are locked into one specialty, Cullinan said.
Salaries for physician assistants recruited by Merritt Hawkins average $120,000 and range from $80,000 to $150,000 a year.