University of Missouri officials have had preliminary discussions about closing the medical school on the Columbia campus and shifting all physician training and medical research to Kansas City, sources confirmed this morning.

"They’re very preliminary, and I can’t comment," Marion Cairns, a member of the UM Board of Curators, said of the discussions.

She referred further comment to UM President Elson Floyd, who did not return phone calls this morning. Board of Curators President Connie Silverstein also did not return phone calls.

"The discussions, apparently, involve closing down the medical school at UMC and shifting the system medical school operations to Kansas City or shifting all system medical training to Kansas City," said one source with knowledge of the talks.

No further details, including what would happen to hospitals and clinics that UM operates in Columbia, have been worked out, the source added.

UM Curator Don Walsworth said this morning he’s aware that the possibility of closing the Columbia medical school has been raised, but he said he’s not familiar with the discussions. He said the board has not formally discussed changes to its medical schools or a proposal to do so.

Walsworth said closing the school in Columbia is unlikely. "That’s a pretty big factor of the university," Walsworth said. "It’s a big research arm."

UM operates medical schools at its campuses in Columbia and Kansas City, and the University of Kansas also operates a medical school in Kansas City. The Kansas City area is home to a growing life sciences research community, and the university’s Kansas City campus has tried to become an integral part of it.

The medical school in Columbia enrolls about 100 students. In recent years, the medical school has been heralded as a key component in the Columbia campus’s life sciences push. And there are plans under way to construct a health sciences research center next to University Hospital.

But the medical school also has had its share of recent staff and money problems. A shortage of faculty in key specialty areas was cited as a major factor for why University of Missouri Health Care ran deficits in fiscal years 2000 through 2002. Medical faculty often double as physicians at MU Health Care, and fewer physicians have meant fewer patients who can be treated, campus officials have said.

Last year, the curators hired an outside management firm, The Hunter Group, to run MU Health’s day-to-day operations and restore it to profitability. MU Health says it earned a profit for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

This isn’t the first time changes to UM’s medical schools have been pondered. In 1992, then-UM President George Russell commissioned an eight-person task force to consider whether the university should maintain two medical schools.

The commission issued a report the following year affirming the need for two schools. The commission said, in part, the two schools were necessary to help combat a doctor shortage in Missouri.

The only other medical schools in the state are at St. Louis University and Washington University. Both are private institutions.

SECOND THOUGHTS: 

This story should have said that enrollment at the MU medical school is about 400.

The story also said the only medical schools in the state are in Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis; to clarify, there also are osteopathy colleges in Kansas City and Kirksville.