Caring for Missourians

More than 220 qualified applicants were turned away from the University of Missouri’s three nursing schools for fall semester 2007 due to existing space limitations.

Yet more than 500,000 nurses will be needed by 2025 to keep up with patient demand, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Health policy experts have long recognized that the United States is experiencing a shortage of health care workers. Shortages already exist in many specialties, and future shortages will likely affect a broad range of individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

Missouri is no exception. With its aging population, decreases in the number of health care-related graduates and abundance of rural communities with few health care resources, the state is at a critical juncture where its ability to provide health care for its citizens is in jeopardy.

Public universities such as the University of Missouri can help mitigate these effects by increasing the number of health care graduates, but funding limitations greatly restrict their ability to admit additional students.

Request

The University of Missouri, along with all the state’s public two- and four-year institutions, have joined together to increase the number of health professional graduates through a program called Caring for Missourians. In total, a request of $39.8 million is being made to the General Assembly. Funds will be used to increase health care professional education programs at all Missouri public twoand four-year colleges and universities, including the University of Missouri’s four campuses.

Through Caring for Missourians, these institutions will increase the number of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals by 20 percent— or 900 health care workers over five years, including 31 new physicians, 30 pharmacists, 489 nurses and 288 allied health professionals.

The University of Missouri’s medical schools in Columbia and Kansas City are ranked among the bottom seven out of 74 public medical schools in terms of state support, with state-appropriated funds providing about $32,000 annually per year per student. The national average is $94,000 per year.

Meanwhile, the Association of American Medical Colleges has called for medical schools to increase enrollments by 30 percent by 2015.

Fast Facts

• Missouri is experiencing shortages in several health care fields:
  • Physicians: 95 percent of Missouri counties are designated as underserved
  • Nursing: A 20 percent shortage of nurses is predicted by 2015
  • Pharmacy: A critical shortage of about 157,000 pharmacists is predicted by 2020
  • Dentistry: Almost 93 percent of Missouri counties don’t have enough dentists
• Missouri ranks 14th in the nation in the number of people 65 and older who will require
  greater medical care as they age
• Missouri communities are reporting difficulties filling open health care professional positions. Local health care facilities are often forced to use high-cost contract health providers or reduce services

Profile

“There is an epidemic facing our state. While not in the form of disease or illness, its effects will be equally felt by our state’s citizens. Just imagine being sick with no doctor easily accessible…or having to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest dentist…or not getting the care you need in the hospital due to a shortage of nurses.

“These are real possibilities unless the state takes a proactive approach to increasing the number of health care providers. Caring for Missourians translates into caring for the state. Without a proactive, long-term, coordinated approach, the state—and the health and welfare of its citizens—will be in jeopardy."

“At Heartland Health in St. Joseph, for instance, we feel the effects of a health care worker shortage every day, and while we try our best to minimize the impact to patients as best we can, there will come a day—if something isn’t done soon—that those who are sick will suffer just as much from their illness as from the lack of adequate health care.”

— Lowell Kruse, CEO of Heartland Health,
St. Joseph, Mo.