UMMC future: health care, economic driver

Sixty years after opening its doors, the University of Mississippi Medical Center is booming — constructing a new medical school, expanding the Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital and partnering with the Mayo Clinic.

"UMMC could not be playing a bigger role nationally," former vice chancellor Dr. James Keeton said.

Yet the spotlight cast on it last week didn't emphasize those assets so much as the power struggle for the future of the state's only teaching hospital.

Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones, whose contract the state College Board did not renew, has said the board wanted to select UMMC's new vice chancellor and he refused. He said he had the power to make the pick and the board had the power to only approve his pick.

The board also wanted him to hire a vice chancellor from outside UMMC. A national search took place, and Dr. LouAnn Woodward, an emergency room doctor who rose up through the UMMC ranks, won the job.

She is the first woman to head the institution.

Woodward, who is also dean of the medical school, is serving on the nationally recognized accrediting body for U.S. and Canadian medical schools.

Since 2005, U.S. News & World Report has voted UMMC's medical school among the "Best in America."

Decades ago, UMMC was perceived as "a charity hospital that happened to have a medical school," Keeton said.

Now UMMC, which employs nearly 10,000, is seen as an academic medical center with cutting-edge technology, delivering the best of medical care and serving as a safety net for Mississippians, he said.

Gov. Phil Bryant has even bigger dreams for UMMC, calling it "vitally important to growing the Jackson medical corridor and to strengthening Mississippi's health care economy on whole."

Earlier this year, he helped break ground at UMMC's Center for Telehealth, which is being built where the former McRae's Department Store on the corner of Meadowbrook Road and North State Street.

Bryant said he is excited about UMMC's partnership with the Mayo Clinic, which he called "a testament to the world-class research being conducted at UMMC."

While the two medical centers have worked together for 20 years, they will begin conducting joint clinical trials this fall, benefiting from Mississippi's diverse population.

They will also join forces for other research and education.

Keeton said this partnership means UMMC doctors will be able to consult directly with Mayo Clinic physicians. Mayo doctors will benefit from UMMC's robust telehealth program, he said.

He credited former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale, past chairman of the Mayo Clinic board of trustees, with making the partnership happen.

Keeton said Barksdale agreed to chair The Campaign for Mayo Clinic as long as Mayo officials would do more work with UMMC.

"Clearly, this is good for patients," Bryant said. "It's also good for the economy because the advanced clinical trials this partnership will enable will bring millions of dollars into the state, and I think we'll also see additional growth in health care suppliers and related industries as a result."

Blake Wilson, executive director of the Mississippi Economic Council, said it's about treating health care as an economic driver, just as business leaders did decades ago with factories.

Tray Hairston, a former policy adviser to Bryant, said he's had some difficulty selling health care to economic officials. "They're still hell-bent on chasing smokestacks," he said.

Officials wound up nixing a project for which his group had won the bid, he said. "We couldn't come together."

Wilson acknowledged there is hesitancy with change. "It's always difficult to march in a new direction," he said.

Bryant is hoping corporate partners will invest in work that emerges from the new $43 million, six-story Translational Research Center, expected to open in late 2016.

The center's second floor will have an incubator, which seeks to marry research and business. If a UMMC scientist were to develop a possible cure for an ailment, it could be patented, and a corporate partner provide venture capital.

The top two floors are being built in hopes of attracting industry partners.

"Clinical research is a multibillion-dollar business," Bryant said. "Having the capacity to conduct more of this type of study will yield new advances in medicine along with new investments from private industries that participate in the research."

He sees physicians as an economic driver, as well.

A new $73-million medical school with state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories is expected to open in 2017. It would expand UMCC's class size from 135 students per year to more than 165.

By 2025, that would add 1,000 new physicians to the workforce, Bryant said. "Research shows that a physician creates $2 million in economic impact in his or her community, so more doctors means more access to health care and more activity in the health care economy."

UMMC currently has 3,000 students in its five professional schools. Keeton said all of the medical students are Mississippians. He praised Barksdale for contributing $1 million a year for scholarships, which helps to keep these aspiring doctors in Mississippi.

A new report by the Association of American Medical Colleges predicts that by 2025 there will be a shortage of as many as 90,000 physicians.

"There remains a desperate need in rural Mississippi for more physicians, especially family physicians, pediatricians, internists and general surgeons," said Dr. Luke Lampton, chairman of the state Board of Health and a family physician in Magnolia. "Not only are there not enough physicians in our state, but our rural population is poorer, sicker, more isolated, and less mobile than our urban citizens. I have patients who don't have cars and literally have to walk to my clinic for their appointments."

The Rural Scholars Program mentors rural doctors-to-be to return home and practice medicine, and the Office of Physician Workforce enables UMMC and state leaders to make data-driven decisions addressing the physician needs of our rural areas, he said.

He supports expanding the class size to 165.

"Frankly, we are way behind," he said. "Such an increase is long overdue and needed to be done 20 years ago. The creation of William Carey's medical school in Hattiesburg, with classes already graduating, also should give a very positive lift to rural physician numbers."

But UMMC is seen by many as more than economics. Currently, about 12 percent of those that UMMC treats are unable to pay for their care, according to officials.

In addition, Batson Children's Hospital — the only pediatric hospital in the state — expects to see a $150 million expansion by 2018. It would include a revamped neonatal intensive care unit, more operating rooms and more clinics.

UMMC works closely with the state Department of Health on pediatric care, maternity care, infectious disease and emergency preparedness.

"We hope these all continue as we work to improve access to care for all Mississippians," State Health Officer Dr. Mary Currier said.

Currier said she hopes their collaboration will include helping Mississippians make changes so they can lead healthier lives.

UMMC enjoys plenty of public support with about $180 million in taxpayer money a year.

"We use most of the money for schools," Keeton said. "We actually pay more in taxes than we get from the state of Mississippi. I'm proud of the medical center."

Since 2003, UMMC has tripled in size and is now a $1.5 billion operation, running a "profit" this fiscal year so far of about $35 million, Keeton said.

Still, as became evident with the situation between Chancellor Jones and College Board, UMMC has also drawn criticism.

Some in the medical field point to the burgeoning bureaucracy. Others have noted that no one outside of UMMC has been selected as dean of the medical school since 1973.

Bryant described Woodward as "extremely capable" and said he has full confidence that she will work together with the state College Board "as they make important choices for our university hospital. I have worked closely with Dr. Jimmy Keeton for many years, and look forward to having a similar relationship with Dr. Woodward."

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.