SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A state Senate commission and the University of Rhode Island announced they have selected a Missouri-based consulting firm to lead a study assessing the feasibility of launching the state’s first medical school.
The firm, Tripp Umbach, was selected after a competitive request process and has measured the economic effects of all U.S. allopathic medical schools and more than 400 teaching hospitals for the Association of American Medical Colleges, according to a news release.
Tripp Umbach was commissioned by Brown University in 2022 to study the economic effects of a proposed merger of Lifespan Corp. and Care New England Health System, a transaction that would have also involved Brown's Warren Alpert Medical School. That merger never went through.
“We are excited to partner with such an experienced firm,” said Barbara Wolfe, URI provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “They have worked extensively with both allopathic and osteopathic medical schools. This includes public universities with medical schools centered on primary and community care, such as the University of Houston and Washington State University.”
To conduct the study, Tripp Umbach will collaborate with stakeholders throughout Rhode Ilsnad, including local and statewide health care organizations, federal and state agencies, research institutions, medical education providers, policymakers and professional associations.
The study complements the work of the state Senate’s special commission that was formed in July 2024 and charged with studying the state’s health care workforce as well as examining how a medical school at URI could help alleviate the need for primary care doctors. The commission was appointed by Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio and co-chaired by URI President Marc Parlange and Sen. Pamela J. Lauria, D-Barrington.
The study will also assess and make recommendations for workforce development, medical school models, enrollment projections, accreditation standards, financial viability, necessary resources, capacity to support clinical training and medical research opportunities.
While the state is losing primary care clinicians, the shortage is only expected to worsen. This inability to find primary care physicians is leading patients to rely on community health centers and urgent care facilities, which further strains resources.
“As a double alumna of the University of Rhode Island, I am proud to co-chair the Senate commission, which could help reshape the future of higher education at the university,” said Lauria, adding the state is on track to be short by about 100 primary care providers by 2030 – leaving 180,000 without access to care. “The central question before our commission is how we can best address the serious challenges facing primary care in our state … It is imperative that we act thoughtfully, expeditiously, and decisively to strengthen the primary care workforce and pipeline in Rhode Island.”
Rhode Island is home to Brown’s Warren Alpert Medical School. No new medical schools have been established since 1972 and no public medical school exists in the state.
The final feasibility report is expected in June 2025 and the special commission is set to issue recommendations to the Senate no later than Dec. 20.
The study is expected to cost $140,000 and will be funded by a grant from the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Legislative Services, which is expected to be awarded this month, said Senate spokesperson Greg Pare.
(Updated to include the cost of the study and how it will be paid for.)
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
Strange move that appears to lack perspective on the State’s part. Let’s see here is a state that from the days of Lincoln Chaffee has wanted to build a biotech sector in Providence and spent money doing that with little results. Now the State and the city have a chance to have a uniqueness in that sector by building a second medical school that will put Providence in the same league as the major medical centers in the US with multiple medical schools – e.g. NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA. Few mid sized cities like Providence have such a distinction. So they pass the buck and hire a consultant to study the issue when to succeed in any new endeavor, one needs boldness. Strange indeed.