MDNews - Greater Kansas

BY AMY GEISZLER-JONES RENOVATIONS ARE UNDERWAY TO TURN A HISTORIC DOWNTOWN WICHITA BUILDING INTO K ANSA S' FIRST OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL COLLEGE AND THE SECOND MEDICAL SCHOOL IN THE STATE. THE PROP OSED K ANSA S College o f O s t e o p a t h i c Medicine (KCOM), which has applied f o r a c c r e d i t a - t i o n f r o m t h e accreditation arm of t he A merica n O s t e o p a t h i c Association, is expected to enroll its first cohort class in August 2022, according to its Founding Dean and Chief Academic Officer Robert Hasty, DO. The college will begin with a class of 85 students and could grow to accept about twice that many, Dr. Hasty says. About 85 faculty will be recruited to create and teach the curriculum, and more than 200 physicians have already answered his invitation to apply for adjunct professorships with the school, Dr. Hasty says. Eventually, the school could have as many as 500 adjunct professors. The private nonprofit Kansas Health Science Center (KHSC) is starting the school in response to a Kansas task force report that recommended establishing a second medical school to help meet the state's need for more doctors, particularly in rural areas. The task force was appointed in 2017 by then-Gov. Sam Brownback, who had initially floated the idea of an osteo- pathic medical school since they tend to focus on primary care training. According to the Association of American Med ica l Col leges (A A MC), K a nsa s ranks 40th in the U.S. for the number of active physicians per capita. Additionally, the task force report pointed out the shortage of Kansas doctors is expected to grow because of aging medical providers. Nearly 29 percent of physicians in Kansas are older than 60, the report says. This will be the second medical school Dr. Hasty has helped create. Three years ago, he helped start Idaho's first medical school, the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, and was its Chief Academic Officer until this past May. Idaho's ranking in active physi- cians per capita is even worse than Kansas' ranking, coming in 49th out of 50 states. The Idaho school started its first class last year. Dr. Hasty is also no stranger to the task of securing new residency positions. Before moving to Idaho, Dr. Hasty had been the Associate Dean of Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine in North Carolina, where he helped find more than 380 new residency positions. Some educators and others in Kansas have expressed concern that the Kansas healthcare system may not have the capacity Robert Hasty, DO New Proposed Osteopathic School in Wichita Is Moving Forward Continued on pg. 17 M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S G R E AT E R K A N S A S ■ 2 019 1 1

• Cover