REGION WORKS TO RECRUIT DOCTORS

The Cape Girardeau area has 155 doctors and more are being recruited.

But the recruitment is being handled individually by doctors' offices rather than through the hospitals or the local medical society.

Physician recruitment also could benefit from medical school programs. Restructuring of medical groups is a factor, too.

The biggest restructuring last year was the merger of two family-practice groups to form Regional Primary Care.

Since the merger last April, the group has expanded from nine doctors to 14 and has added two nurse practitioners. Two of the doctors operate an office in Jackson.

The expansion includes the addition of two obstetricians and a doctor from Canada.

Regional Primary Care hopes to expand even more. "We are anticipating some other people coming on board," said Jack Ferguson, the group's administrator.

But while the medical staff has grown, it has primarily involved doctors who were already practicing in the area.

Ferguson said such mergers make it easier to compete in a managed-care environment.

"Managed care would rather contract with one large group as opposed to trying to come to agreement with a number of small groups," he said.

In addition, there are savings in consolidating computer, billing and accounting systems. "The physicians can keep their costs down if they can keep their overhead down," he said.

Ferguson said larger groups are more attractive to new doctors coming out of medical school. He said it is easier for new doctors to join an existing practice rather than set up their own.

One road to recruitment involves a program run by the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Students in the medical school spend their last two years working and observing medical procedures and practices in hospitals and doctors' offices.

This is the third year for the program locally, said Dr. John Hall, a Cape Girardeau urologist and osteopath. Hall coordinates the program in the Southeast Missouri region.

The medical school program focuses on placing students at rural sites. In this area, students do internships in Cape Girardeau and Sikeston.

Hall expects some of those students will return to Cape Girardeau after they do their residency training.

"Kids who train in Southeast Missouri are much more likely to return to this area," he said.

Hall said the number of medical students who have trained in Southeast Missouri continues to grow.

There are currently 10 students receiving medical training in this area. Seven of those students will probably be back for the next year, beginning July 1. Coupled with new students, Hall said there could be as many as 15 in this area in the coming year.

Students receive training in everything from family medicine to surgery.

Hall enjoys working with the students. "It is fun to get back to teaching a little bit and see the enthusiasm of the students," he said.

Hall said an effort also is under way to set up a family-practice residency program at the two hospitals. The program would involve a partnership with the University of Missouri-Columbia Medical School and the medical school in Kirksville.

That also could lead to more doctors setting up practices in the Cape Girardeau area.

In addition, the UMC Medical School has launched a new program in which two students are accepted each year from Southeast Missouri State University for pre-admission into the medical school.

Northwest Missouri State, Southwest Missouri State and Drury College also participate in the Rural Scholars Pre-Admission Program.

Once accepted into the pre-admission program, students are guaranteed a place in the medical school if they maintain a 3.5 grade-point average, achieve grades of B or better in all pre-med courses and score well on the admission exam.

Students selected for the program must be from rural communities and have scored a 30 or better on the ACT exam for undergraduate college admission and must meet a minimum university grade-point average.

Joshua Griffin, a sophomore from Bernie, is one of the first two students selected for the program from Southeast.

"It takes a lot of worry off me," he said. "I don't have to worry about all the paperwork involved in applying to different medical schools."

Dr. Walt Schroeder, president of the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society, said the Cape Girardeau area has physicians in a variety of fields.

"Off hand," he said, "I don't know of any community the size of Cape Girardeau that has the access to medical care that Cape offers."