U of Houston regents OK plan to create a medical school

The University of Houston System regents approved a motion this week to create a college of medicine at the university, according to The Texas Tribune.

The university has yet to secure funding for the proposed medical school from the Texas Legislature and approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Officials said they plan to apply for accreditation for the medical school in August 2018.

The goal of the medical school is to minimize the physician shortage currently affecting the state. If approved, the university would begin admitting students in 2020.

However, policymakers have suggested the state does not maintain enough medical residencies to support an additional medical school, despite allocating millions of dollars to create more residency slots in the state in 2015, the report states.

To increase the number of residency positions, the university recently signed a letter of understanding with the Gulf Coast division of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare. Officials said the plan will hopefully create 103 residency positions by 2019, according to the report.

The University of Houston board will present its proposed plan for its medical school to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in February.

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