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A public-private partnership between ÌìÌÃÄñÏÈÉú’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation has led to innovative strategies for meeting the state’s physician workforce needs.

By Ken Johnson, D.O., Executive Dean, ÌìÌÃÄñÏÈÉú Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine

This year alone, Ohio will face a deficit of 1,200 primary care physicians, according to . That means less OB-GYN's delivering our babies, less pediatricians caring for our children, less internists treating chronic disease and less family physicians providing preventative care. These shortages stand to impact 24,000 Ohio patients each day, based on average primary care physician caseloads.

In practical terms that means longer waits for appointments, long drives to reach communities that have medical resources, and added costs as patients turn to emergency rooms for primary care services. In some cases, patients must go without care altogether. This is a common refrain in rural and underserved urban communities, where physician shortages are exacerbated. 

Physician shortages are not a new problem for Ohio. Alleviating the shortage was in fact the charge upon which ÌìÌÃÄñÏÈÉú's medical school was founded in 1975. But new solutions are required given increasing challenges to medicine and higher education.

Together with our longstanding partner, the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation, the ÌìÌÃÄñÏÈÉú Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine has developed a roadmap for meeting the state’s physician workforce needs—one that we believe stands to dramatically increase the number of physicians who choose to stay and practice in Ohio:

We recruit in and for Ohio. 

More than 90 percent of Heritage College students are from Ohio, hailing from 84 of the state’s 88 counties. Much of our training takes place in community hospitals, where students forge community ties and lay down roots. It’s no coincidence that 69 percent of our last graduating class chose to stay and practice in Ohio; it’s a strategic outcome.

We incentivize primary care. 

Medical school tuition can lead to significant loan debt, which may discourage students from pursuing primary care, one of the lowest-paid specialties. To help address this, we are introducing a new primary care scholarship designed to ease the financial burden for students entering primary care or high-need specialties. Starting next fall, this scholarship will cover up to 100% of annual in-state tuition during the final year of medical school for students who match into residency programs in primary care or other high-need specialties.

We attract and retain low-income students. 

Prospective students in low-income communities often believe medical school is out of reach. Yet, research shows these students are desperately needed because patients have better health outcomes when they are cared for by physicians with shared lived experiences. In response, we’ve developed a new scholarship program to help socioeconomically disadvantaged students realize their dream of practicing medicine. This holds great potential for critically underserved areas of the state, where low-income students are more likely to serve.

The impetus that launched the Heritage College nearly 50 years ago continues to be our North Star: We remain wholly committed to alleviating Ohio’s physician shortage. But it took a public-private partnership with the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation to truly catalyze that mission.

While the Foundation’s support for Heritage College is often characterized by transformative gifts—more than $193 million to date — our partnership transcends philanthropy. Hand in hand, through years of collaboration, we have established a unique strategic approach, which is chipping away at Ohio’s physician shortage and bringing our vision of a healthier Ohio into reach.