Fact sheet on Georgia's medical schools [Jan. 2011]

Georgia Board for Physician Workforce Fact Sheet on Georgia's Medical Schools
January 2011

This fact sheet highlights key elements related to Georgia's medical schools and provides answers to the following questions:
What are Georgia's medical schools doing to help meet the need for more physicians? How much does it cost to attend medical school in Georgia today compared to five years ago? How do
Georgia's in-state tuition rates compare to the national average and what proportion of medical students are Georgia residents?
Are the graduates of Georgia's medical schools entering needed specialties? Do Georgia's medical school graduates stay in state to do their residency (GME) training? Are graduates of Georgia's medical schools practicing in Georgia? What impact will medical school expansion have on Georgia's physician workforce and where should the
state focus its energy and resources in the future?

What are Georgia's medical schools doing to help meet the need for more physicians?

The Medical College of Georgia (MCG), Emory University School of Medicine, Mercer University School of Medicine, and Morehouse School of Medicine are all increasing medical student enrollment in response to the need for more physicians. Georgia is also benefiting from the new osteopathic medical school, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), Georgia Campus, which graduated its second class in May 2010.
As shown in the table, medical school enrollment has increased from 1,515 students in 2000-2001 to 2,250 students in 2010-2011. This equates to a 48.5% increase over the last 10 years. By 2020, the total student enrollment will increase another 22.4% to 2,754 medical students if all the schools fully implement their expansion plans.

Medical School

Georgia's Medical Schools Past, Current, & Projected Enrollment
2000-2020

Past Enrollment: 2000/2001

Past Enrollment: 2006/2007

Past Enrollment: 2009/2010

Current Enrollment: 2010/2011

Percentage of Total Students Trained
2010/2011

Projected Enrollment:
2020

Emory

439

455

517

533

23.7%

528

MCG and MCG/UGA Partnership Campus

711

734

762

802

35.6%

1200

Mercer

212

246

311

351

15.6%

366

Morehouse

153

210

213

221

9.8%

300

Philadelphia College

of Osteopathic Med.,

GA Campus (PCOM)

0

168

TOTAL ENROLLMENT(1)

1515

1813

Percentage Increase in Enrollment over

Previous Period

19.7%

(1) Enrollment figures provided by the medical schools.

341 2144
18.3%

343

15.2%

2250

100%

Not 4.9% Applicable

360 2754
22.4%

How much does it cost to attend medical school in Georgia today compared to five years ago? How do Georgia's in-state resident tuition rates compare to the national average and what proportion of medical students are Georgia residents?

Tuition Rate Comparison by Georgia Medical School For the Five Year Period 2005-2006 & 2010-2011

Medical School

Tuition Only

Tuition Only

Percentage

For Incoming Freshman For Incoming Freshmen Increase Over

Academic Year

Academic Year

Past 5 Years

2005-2006

2010-2011

Emory Univ. School of Medicine

$36,000

$43,300

20.3%

Medical College of Georgia (MCG)

$11,850

$22,478

89.7%

Mercer Univ. School of Medicine

$30,220

$39,860

31.9%

Morehouse School of Medicine

$24,000

$34,457

43.6%

Philadelphia College of Osteopathic

$33,587

$39,432

17.4%

Medicine (GA Campus)

Sources: Tuition for Georgia residents obtained from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Tuition and Student Fees Reports 2010-2011 and 20052006; fees are not included in the tuition totals. PCOM tuition figures were provided by the school.

The cost to obtain a medical education continues to rise. According to the AAMC Tuition and Student Fees Report for 2010-2011, the average tuition cost for an in-state resident attending a public medical school is $21,455 in 20102011. The average tuition for residents attending private medical schools in their home state is $40,841.

A significant percentage of students currently enrolled in Georgia's medical schools are residents of the state. Mercer University School of Medicine only accepts Georgia residents, so the rate is 100%, followed closely by the Medical College of Georgia where 98.5% of medical students are in-state residents. The proportion of Morehouse School of Medicine students who are Georgia residents is 56.6%, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine's (GA Campus) rate is 50.4%, and Emory's University School of Medicine's proportion of in-state residents is 34.5%.

Are the graduates of Georgia's medical schools entering needed specialties?

Georgia's medical schools are producing
graduates who enter primary care and other needed core specialties such as Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, OB/GYN, and General Surgery.
Over the last 5 years, Morehouse had
the highest percentage of graduates entering primary care and core specialty residency programs at 71.0%. Mercer's rate was 58.4% followed by MCG at 52.6%, and Emory with 49.5%. PCOM's rate was 57.5% for the School's first two graduating classes.

Medical School Graduates Entering Primary Care & Core Specialty GME Programs by Medical School
Fiscal Years 2006-2010

Medical School Emory

% of Graduates Entering a Primary Care or Core Specialty Residency
Program upon Graduation from Medical School 49.5%

MCG Mercer

52.6% 58.4%

Morehouse

71.0%

PCOM (2009-2010 only)

57.5%

Source: As reported by the medical schools; reflects specialty selection for 1st year of residency training for those graduates entering GME.

The GBPW's 2010 survey of Georgia's medical school graduates found that when selecting a specialty, the respondents were most influenced by "Mentors & Role Models". "Lifestyle" was reported as the second most important factor when choosing a specialty followed by "Options for Fellowship Training". The majority of respondents to the 2010 survey indicated "Medical Education Debt" had little to no influence on their selection of specialty. "Competitiveness of Specialty" and "Family Expectations" were also ranked as having a low degree of influence on specialty choice.

Do Georgia's medical school graduates stay in state to do their residency (GME) training?

When surveyed by the GBPW, Georgia's 2010 medical school graduates indicated "Location" is the most influential factor in selecting a residency program. "Reputation of the Residency Program", "Family", and "Availability of Residency Positions in Desired Specialty" were also of strong to moderate influence.

A collective average of 28.8% of graduates Medical School Graduates Remaining in Georgia for

from MCG, Emory, Mercer, and

Residency (GME) Training by Medical School

Morehouse selected a Georgia residency

Fiscal Years 2006-2010

training program over the last five years, even though a large portion of the medical students were Georgia residents.

Medical School Emory

% of Graduates Selecting a GA Residency Training Site
32.5%

Mercer and Emory have the highest rates
of graduates remaining in Georgia for residency training at 32.5% followed by MCG (26.3%), and Morehouse (24.2%).

MCG Mercer Morehouse PCOM (2009-2010 only)

26.3% 32.5% 24.2% 19.9%

An average of 19.9% of graduates from PCOM's first two classes selected a Georgia residency training site.

Source: As reported by the medical schools; reflects location for 1st year of residency training for those graduates entering GME.

Graduates going out of state for residency training were asked by the GBPW to indicate their primary reason for leaving. The majority of survey respondents (46.6%) preferred to train at a well known out-of-state program in their specialty area. The choice of "Other" was selected by 29.2% of respondents and included reasons such as family, job potential for significant other, and desire to live someplace different. Eleven percent (11%) wanted to stay, but did not match to a Georgia program. Ten percent (10%) chose to go out-of-state based on the quality of Georgia's residency programs and just over 3% reported their specialty is not offered in Georgia.

Are graduates of Georgia's medical schools practicing in Georgia?

The AAMC State Physician Workforce
Data Book (Nov. 2009) reported the average national retention rate for medical school graduates was 39%.
Georgia's medical schools currently
have a collective average retention rate of 46.5%, which is down from 48.0% in June 2005.
Mercer has the highest retention rate
of graduates practicing in Georgia at 58.8% followed by MCG (51.5%), Morehouse (46.1%), and Emory (37.0%).

Physician Retention by Georgia Medical School

as of July 2010

Medical School

% of M.D.

% of M.D.

Graduates

Graduates

Practicing in Practicing in the

GA

Contiguous* States

Emory

37.0%

24.2%

MCG

51.5%

25.5%

Mercer

58.8%

23.4%

Morehouse

46.1%

17.6%

Source: AMA Directory of Physicians in the United States: 2011 CD-ROM. Contiguous states North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, & Florida

What impact will medical school expansion have on Georgia's physician workforce and where should the state focus its energy and resources in the future?

The collective contributions of all five medical schools must be considered in evaluating the impact of
expansion efforts on Georgia's physician workforce.

Expansion initiatives already underway at four of the medical schools (Mercer, MCG, Morehouse, and Emory)
are of significant importance. If these efforts were discontinued, there would be a serious long-term negative effect on the state's medical education infrastructure and Georgia's physician workforce.

It is important for the state to maintain the commitment to undergraduate medical education; however,
expanding medical school enrollment alone will not meet Georgia's need for physicians.

Georgia must also invest in expanding graduate medical education capacity (residency training positions)
based on the physician workforce needs of the state. Research has shown that residency location may have a greater influence on a physician's choice of practice location (more than where they attended medical school). Source: National Conference of State Legislatures Physician Workforce Institute for Primary Care and Workforce Analysis.
January 2003 report "Practice Location of Physician Graduates".

Georgia Board for Physician Workforce 1718 Peachtree St., N.W., Suite 683, Atlanta, Georgia 30309, (404) 206-5420 www.gbpw.georgia.gov Cherri Tucker, Executive Director. Colette Caldwell, Carla Graves, Kelly McNamara, and G.E. Alan Dever, M.D., Ph.D., contributors.