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No less than the future of the state's healthcare system is on the line Nov. 7.

From the perspective of UAMS, the higher education bond program that is on the ballot is critical to averting a healthcare work force crisis.

Like the nation, Arkansas will lose many of its doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to retirement just as they and other aging baby boomers begin placing unprecedented demands on our healthcare system.

In 2010, the first of the baby boomers will reach age 65, retirement age.

UAMS, home to the state's only colleges of medicine and pharmacy and doctorate-level nursing program, is uniquely positioned to help relieve some of the pressure on our healthcare system in the years ahead. We are already expanding enrollment and programs, but classroom space is at capacity, meaning the bond program's approval is essential to combating this looming crisis.

How severe could the shortages be?

Arkansas is already experiencing shortages among its healthcare professions. Meanwhile, medical schools nationally have been asked to increase class sizes by 30 percent to meet the demand expected by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Despite the fact that UAMS ranks in the top five of all the states in the percentage of graduate residents and fellows who remain in the state, Arkansas ranks 48th among the 50 states in physicians per capita, and many of the state's doctors are nearing retirement age.

Nationally, one-third of practicing physicians are over the age of 55. The youngest average age of our physician specialties in Arkansas is 49, for pediatrics and anesthesiology. Also, Arkansas today has one of the lowest concentrations of nurses among the states, and the nation already struggles with a nursing shortage.

An Aging Workforce Survey by the journal Nursing Management released in July 2006 by the Bernard Hodes Group found that 55 percent of nurses plan to retire by 2020. The national nursing shortage is expected to grow from 14 percent in 2010 to 34 percent by 2020. Similar shortages are projected in other healthcare fields.

Arkansas is even more vulnerable because its population is older and less healthy than the populations of most other states.

The percentage of Arkansas' population age 65+ is expected to grow by 68 percent between 2000 and 2020, compared to just 12 percent for the rest of the nation. By 2025, Arkansas will have the fifth-highest percentage of elderly in the nation.

We believe that initiatives in recent years will help Arkansas become a healthier state, but we have a long way to go. Arkansas is still ahead of the national average for obesity and the percentage of smokers, and in turn, diabetes and high blood pressure.

If the bond program is adopted, UAMS' first priority is to provide adequate space for new education classrooms.

UAMS also will renovate a portion of the old State Hospital to house the many programs of the College of Health Related Professions.

Updating the 30-year-old Education II Building, which includes the UAMS Library, is also planned, as are technology advancements like connection to the

e-corridor, the national high-speed

Internet network for research.

Statewide, the higher education bond program would open new classrooms to absorb record enrollments and enable technology advancements that would keep all of Arkansas' colleges competitive with surrounding states.

Adoption of the higher education bond program for UAMS would mean having the resources to help ward off the looming health care work force crisis and give some peace of mind to those who expect adequate access to care in the years to come.



Dr. I. Dodd Wilson, a physician, is chancellor of UAMS.



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November 2006

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