From dream to drawing board for proposed King College medical school

BRISTOL, Tenn. – In less than a year, a proposed King College medical school has evolved from dream to drawing board.

College President Greg Jordan raised eyebrows last November when he announced the small, private school’s desire to create a program to educate physicians. The plan was accompanied by a sobering $100 million price tag for construction of facilities in Bristol and Kingsport.

Thursday’s $25 million vote of confidence by the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission breathed life into the project. The money is earmarked for construction of the primary campus on an undetermined Virginia site “in close proximity” to Bristol Regional Medical Center, which is on the Tennessee side of town.

“This is a truly substantial project that will be transformational for this region. It’s almost an understatement, because once people begin to see the immediate effects, it all seems amazing,” Jordan said. “It obviously will enhance accessibility to health care and primary care physicians. The economic impact and work force development are two other key elements in this initiative.”

Jordan envisions a program that would eventually graduate more students than the long-established Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City.

While the commission’s substantial down payment represents about half the cost of establishing the first campus, it is more than enough money to begin mobilizing architects.

Jordan hopes bulldozers aren’t far behind.

While a site hasn’t been finalized, Jordan said, that decision is expected “in the short term” and officials hope to welcome the first class in fall 2012.

The public funding also is expected to generate additional investment.

“This begins a new phase of our fundraising requests. We’ve had some very positive conversations with private donors and I think an entity [commission] making this investment will drive gifts,” Jordan said.

Set against the backdrop of a national debate on reforming health care and studies that reflect present and growing shortages of physicians, Jordan said the timing is right.

“There are going to be more investments in medical education in the next few years,” Jordan said. “Our proposal is asking the question: Why not in our region? We think we have the resources clinically – a very talented set of physicians in this region – so why not utilize them in clinical environments to educate the next generation of physicians who will serve our region?”

The initial class is expected to be about 75, with plans to expand that number to about 150, Jordan said.

The grant’s only stipulations are: that the location of the health and science center be in Virginia; King must secure a 100 percent funding match; and all the grant money must be spent on construction. It also includes a protection clause should the building cease to be used for medical education.

Tobacco commission member and Virginia Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol, praised the medical school plan and its potential.

“This is one of our signature projects and one of the single largest investments the tobacco commission has made. The reason you got the unanimous vote was it’s transformational,” Wampler said. “This is expected to create about 500 jobs and should create some high-paying jobs, if it attracts the research like we hope. And it should produce primary care doctors who will stay in the region.”

Wampler and Delegate Terry Kilgore, a Republican from Gate City who is the commission’s vice chairman, helped carry the plan to the commission. And approval came quickly.

“After they got over the amount, they saw how much money our money would leverage. This is the jump-start of their [King] fundraising efforts for the construction. It really wasn’t a hard sell,” Wampler said.

Its success was likely due in part to the fact that King now plans to extend service, clinical opportunities and spots in the medical school to residents of Virginia’s Southside region, which includes the cities of Bedford, Martinsville and Danville.

“Southside Virginia is a rural area that has many of the same needs for primary care physicians as Southwest,” said commission member Frank Ruff of Clarksville, Va. “We have an aging population that needs more access to medical care. We also hope King will save a seat or two for some of our folks, so we can keep people in a less urban setting.”

The King plan meshes well with the commission’s task to revitalize areas that have shed jobs in agriculture and manufacturing, Kilgore said.

“We’re very hopeful of what a medical school can do for the region. In looking at the studies, we’re hopeful it can bring a big return,” Kilgore said. “Our [commission’s] goal is to revitalize and reinvent the area’s economy.”

Noting the outpouring at free medical clinics in Wise County and elsewhere, Kilgore said the medical school could also provide vital service for a medically underserved region beset with high rates of diabetes, cancer and other potentially deadly maladies that are above national averages.

Both elected officials said they had no problem directing money to a private school because the project is an effort to stimulate the economy – much like supporting a private business.
 
“It is especially appropriate that funds from the tobacco commission would be used to address health care initiatives directly,” Jordan said.

Survey says

If the medical school opens as planned in 2012, it could generate $74.4 million in annual economic impact for the region starting in 2015, according to an updated study by Tripp Umbach, a Pennsylvania-based health care consulting firm retained by King College.

That includes a potential $40.9 million annual impact for Southwest Virginia by 2015.

It also would create about 500 jobs, including almost 300 in Southwest Virginia, the survey shows. That total includes faculty and support staff employed by the proposed medical school, medical residents and indirect employment created by spending from the school and its employees, the study shows.

It further forecasts a direct and indirect annual economic impact of more than $364 million on a 150-mile radius of the Tri-Cities and the creation of more than 2,700 direct and indirect jobs by 2020.

Of that, more than $200 million is forecast to be spread among communities in Southwest Virginia, supporting 1,500 forecast jobs.

All aboard

A facility built in Virginia won’t change plans to build a second campus near Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn.

“This maintains the two-location model – Bristol and Kingsport – primarily because one is for educational, lecture-based, case-based research in the first two years [Bristol] and clinical opportunities in the last two years [Kingsport],” Jordan said.

Wellmont Health System, which operates those two tertiary care hospitals – along with six others in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee – has committed to partner with the college along with the physicians organization Holston Medical Group.

Others, Jordan said, will be needed.

“The medical school project is a regional project and it will take the involvement of health care systems and the community. There will be a broad group of stakeholders actively involved in the development of this project. No single entity can pilot or launch a program of this magnitude. It will take a concerted effort on everyone’s part to make sure this is a successful venture,” Jordan said.

Besides expanding to Southside, King officials have also broached the concept with medical schools and health care entities in other parts of Tennessee, Virginia and Western North Carolina.

During the previous 11 months – as more details have surfaced – local elected officials have been asked to consider the balance between investment and the potential, long-range economic reward.

Last spring and summer, King received votes of support – but no commitments – from boards in both Bristols, Kingsport and Sullivan County. All continue to maintain “a great deal of interest,” Jordan said.

In the months since, similar elected bodies in Tazewell, Dickenson, Wise, Scott and Russell counties have approved resolutions of support, Jordan said.

“We’ve continued to share the vision for the medical school and research program with economic development groups in Southwest Virginia, as well as East Tennessee. There have been significant expressions of support and interest, particularly among economic development associations in Southwest Virginia,” Jordan said.

In some cases, the reception caught King officials off guard, said LeAnn Hughes, vice president of public affairs.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming support we’re continuing to receive everywhere that we’ve been. Every politician and every entity understands the economic impact of this project, as well as the need for the region,” Hughes said. “All of this goes in alignment with the mission and vision of the college, to solve work force and economic development needs.”

Beyond its Bristol, Tenn., campus, King has offered business and health education classes in Abingdon, Big Stone Gap, Grundy, Marion and Richlands, Va., as well as sites in Kingsport, Johnson City, Morristown, Sevierville and Knoxville, Tenn.

“These represent excellent public-private partnerships, which we think is a hallmark for the college,” Jordan said. “We see this [medical school] as an extension of that effort.”

Regional commission

Besides bricks, mortar and curricula, Jordan anticipates soon starting a commission designed primarily to enhance the school.

“We initially met a year ago and we will appoint additional members and move forth in the development of a commission,” Jordan said.  Its role would be “to identify medical and health care needs in the region as it relates to medical education.”

The commission also would be charged with studying the five-state region’s accessibility to health care, communicating with health care organizations and helping “coalesce” the interest of health care systems to benefit the region, Jordan said.

A side charge would be working to develop King’s medical school in concert with other medical schools and health care programs in the region.

Clinical partners Wellmont and Holston Medical Group also are involved with the commission.

“The commission is an excellent forum to explore how support can be marshaled for the project,” Jordan said.

“We continue to explore various resources to identify $50 million for operational expenses for the first few years of the medical school,” he continued. “The $50 million is part of the [projected] operating budget, but you have to have at least $50 million to contribute to the operational expense of the medical school to ensure its operation.”

Officials also are researching the possible availability of federal stimulus dollars for the project.

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