Med schools respond to plea for more students

For the first time, the number of first-year students enrolling in allopathic medical schools tops 17,000.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Nov. 14, 2005.

More doctors are in the pipeline.

Allopathic medical schools increased enrollment by 352 students, or 2.1%, in 2005-06, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. This follows the AAMC's recommendation earlier this year that member schools boost enrollment by 15% over the next decade to help offset an anticipated physician shortage. The AAMC suggested that the expansion take place in areas where the nation's population is the fastest growing.

"The new data show this is indeed happening," said Jordan Cohen, MD, AAMC president. "We expect this to be just the beginning."

Dr. Cohen said expansion in states such as Florida and Texas was notable because the growing immigrant populations in those states was outpacing the supply of area physicians.

Until this fall, enrollment at allopathic medical schools was almost unchanged for the past 20 years. Osteopathic schools have been expanding rapidly, but their overall numbers are much smaller. For the 2005-06 academic year, there are 17,004 first-year students at allopathic medical schools. An estimated 3,889 first-year students enrolled in osteopathic schools.

AAMC officials are optimistic that member schools will reach the 15% target of 2,500 to 3,000 additional first-year students by 2015. But they acknowledge that reaching this goal could be difficult.

"Adding five, 10, 15 students is easier than 80 students," said Ed Salsberg, director of the AAMC's Center for Workforce Studies.

Based on AAMC surveys of medical school plans, Salsberg said he anticipates schools will be able to expand another 5% to 10% in the next few years. A 2003 survey of medical school deans showed that responding schools had the capacity to expand enrollment by 7.6%, said Richard Cooper, MD, a medical professor at Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, who conducted the survey.