Does one medical school's admission policy help a rural state "grow their own" physicians?

The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) has been the only medical school in the state since its inception in 1955 (until the 2008 establishment of the William Carey College of Osteopathic Medicine, yet to graduate its first class). Recruiting out-of-state physicians is difficult in Mississippi, and stakeholders frequently talk of "growing our own" physicians, especially challenging with a single public medical school.

This study investigates: (1) the proportion of a recent (1990-1999) cohort of UMC graduates practicing in Mississippi, (2) the proportion of all practicing Mississippi physicians who are UMC grads, (3) whether UMC graduates are more likely to practice in rural, small towns, or geographically isolated areas than other physicians, and (4) whether UMC graduates are more likely to recommend Mississippi as a practice location to new medical school graduates.

Using Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure data (2009) and Mississippi Medical Doctors survey data (2007-2008), we employ GIS, logistic regression, and multinomial logistic regression models. We also use qualitative methods to examine interviews from purposefully sampled minority and/or female Mississippi physicians from the Mississippi Medical Doctors survey.

Approximately 56% of UMC 1990-1999 cohort grads are practicing in Mississippi. Moreover, UMC graduates--of any year--constitute about 58% of Mississippi's practicing physicians. UMC graduates are not more likely to practice in rural, small towns, or geographically isolated areas in Mississippi than physicians who graduated elsewhere. Controlling for other factors, UMC grads are not more likely to recommend practicing in Mississippi than physicians trained elsewhere.

Health educators and policy makers should consider broadening UMC's enrollment policies, and greater emphasis should be placed on recruiting physicians.