The dean of the UND Medical School says the school is working on getting more doctors into rural areas in North Dakota.
Dr. Joshua Wynne told the Legislature’s interim Health Care Reform and Review Committee – the state is facing an aging population – as well as doctors retiring.
"We actually have the double-whammy of an older population, on average," Wynne told the Committee. "We're second only to Rhode Island, with the percentage of our population 85 and older. We also have an aging physician workforce. That's one of the reasons why we're adding more physicians as trainees."
Wynne said the Med School has increased class sizes, to graduate more doctors and other medical professionals.
Wynne also says the med school has been working to try and increase the amount of available residencies for new doctors. He says where physicians do their residencies will often determine where they end up practicing medicine.
"If you go to the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences to be a physician, and then you leave the state to do your residency, there's only a one-in-three chance you're coming back here to practice medicine," said Wynne. "If you go to the UND med school, and do your residency in-state, there's a more than two out of three chance that you'll stay here long-term to practice."
Wynne says the Legislature has been very helpful in supporting the med school’s efforts to get people to stay here after they receive their MD degrees.