News in brief - July 4, 2011

Medical school enrollment growth on track, AAMC says

Continued growth in the number of U.S. medical students is due largely to expansion of older medical schools, says the Assn. of American Medical Colleges' 2010 Medical School Enrollment Survey, released June 20.

First-year enrollment at allopathic medical schools was 18,665 in fall 2010 and is projected to reach 21,041 by 2015 -- just shy of AAMC's goal of raising enrollment 30% from 2002. The AAMC set the goal in 2006 in response to physician shortages.

Sixty-two percent of that projected growth is from 100 of 125 schools accredited in 2002 or earlier. Since then, one school has been accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, eight schools have been granted preliminary accreditation and seven schools are seeking accreditation.

At osteopathic schools, first-year enrollment is expected to reach 6,222 by 2015, more than double what it was in 2002, the report said.

The report is online (www.aamc.org/download/251636/data/enrollment2011.pdf).

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Pennsylvania physicians seek better access to controlled substance database

The Pennsylvania Medical Society is backing an effort to improve the state's controlled substance database to combat doctor-shopping. Pennsylvania is one of 35 states with an operational prescription monitoring program, but the current database tracks only Schedule II drugs and can be accessed only by the state attorney general's office.

House Bill 1651 would require timely reporting of all controlled substances dispensed in the state and let physicians or their designated staffers access the electronic database to find out about their patients' prescription history. The medical society is working with the House Human Services Committee, where the bill was referred on June 8, to tweak some language before pledging its support.

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