Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Progress in Medical District must reduce doctor shortage, officials say

Jacky Rosen Visits UNLV School of Medicine

Wade Vandervort

Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV 3rd District) puts on an honorary lab coat given to her by Dean Barbara Atkinson, M.D. and Geriatrician Ashley Sarasan, M.D. at the UNLV School of Medicine Monday, April 15, 2019.

Even as expansions and new developments take place in the Las Vegas Medical District, elected officials in Southern Nevada say more coordination is needed to address the region’s ongoing physician shortage and fragmented medical services.

The Las Vegas City Council and Clark County Commission met Wednesday to hear from representatives of University Medical Center, UNLV School of Medicine and the Nevada Health and Vital Science Asset Corp., a nonprofit that was created to build the school of medicine’s planned medical education building. All three entities shared updates on the Medical District, including the status of the education building, the impending arrival of the medical school’s new permanent dean, Dr. Marc Kahn, and plans for a shared parking garage on Shadow Lane.

Elected officials said they were grateful to see progress in the Medical District, the 684-acre neighborhood home to four hospitals and concentrated around the intersection of Charleston and Martin Luther King boulevards. But they also lamented the ongoing challenges facing the Las Vegas Valley when it comes to medical care, especially the lack of doctors.

Nevada ranks 47th in the nation in doctors per capita, with approximately 200 physicians per 100,000 residents, said Las Vegas Director of Economic Development Bill Arent. Although the Medical District has grown since it was developed in 2013, Las Vegas needs to increase its supply of doctors and can’t afford to rely solely on out-of-state recruitments, Arent said.

“We need to train more physicians locally,” he said.

The completion of UNLV School of Medicine, which accepted its first class in 2017, could help with the problem. The school is recruiting its fourth class of students, which will bring it to full capacity for the first time by fall 2020, said interim dean John Fildes. The school also expects to achieve full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) by October, Fildes said.

“The school of medicine, although very young — five years in planning, two years in operation — is growing and improving in all its dimensions,” he said.

The school's flagship medical education building is currently in the design phase. Construction will take place between February 2021 and February 2025, Fildes said. Once the building is completed, the school will be able to accept more students based on standards set by the LCME, according to Maureen Schafer, president and CEO of the Nevada Health and Vital Science Asset Corp.

“It’s going to allow the accrediting body to raise the class limit — currently 60 students — to upwards of 90 or 120 per class, and that’s a big deal,” Schafer said.

The nonprofit corporation hopes to announce a contractor for the building “in the very near term,” said Warren Hardy, a former state senator and now lobbyist involved in the project. Last week, the Clark County Commission approved land transfers necessary to begin construction, and the nonprofit is now working with Las Vegas to address traffic issues, Hardy said.

“The message is that we’re moving quickly with this process,” he said.

While councilors and commissioners said they were excited to see progress in the Medical District, they raised concerns about additional factors contributing to Nevada and Clark County’s doctor shortage and said officials at all levels of government should develop a more coordinated approach to the Medical District.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman stressed the need for the Nevada Legislature to raise the Medicaid reimbursement rate for doctors, which is relatively low compared to other states, she said. Raising this rate could encourage more doctors to stay in-state, according to Goodman.

The high cost of residencies for doctors, which are required of medical school students and typically pay less than professional physician positions, could also be contributing to the region’s insufficient doctors, said Las Vegas Ward 3 Councilwoman Olivia Diaz. Fildes conceded that UNLV needs to acquire “new and unique” funding opportunities, including more grant funding, to expand residency programs.

Goodman urged UMC and UNLV to keep local elected officials in the loop about how they can help improve medical care in the region.

“Just to continue to meet and have conversations doesn’t achieve anything,” Goodman said.

In response to similar requests from other councilors, Clark County Commission Chair Marilyn Kirkpatrick asked UNLV and UMC to provide both bodies with “an immediate list of needs” as well as recurring updates in the district.

As the school of medicine and entire Medical District continue to develop, Las Vegas Ward 1 Councilman Brian Knudsen said he hopes to see a greater concentration of services in the district to make it easier for people to access specialists. The Medical District is primarily located in Ward 1, but its future is significant for the entire region, Knudsen added.

“As elected officials, we can work with our staff members at the city and county and identify this district as the opportunity for improving health care,” Knudsen said.