By Jondi Gumz
One challenge hospitals in the tri-county area share: Not enough primary care doctors.
Cynthia Larive
On Nov. 8, UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive floated a solution at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership State of the Region conference: She’s thinking about a medical school to train doctors on the Central Coast.
The closest public medical school is at UC San Francisco, 90 minutes away; then UC Davis, more than two hours away.
Previous chancellors focused on opening an engineering school, and building up the game design program and renovating the aging Kresge College dorms.
Larive’s to-do list includes building apartments on campus for students with families and opening a new child care center, building student dorms on Heller Drive and building apartments on Delaware Avenue.
Larive sees the need for primary care doctors.
As Allen Radner, president and CEO of Salinas Valley Health, told the 300 conference attendees at CSU Monterey Bay, “This is a massive national problem — 50% physicians are over the age of 60. Last year, we needed 45 new primary care providers. We’re nowhere near those numbers.”
What UCSC has done is offer a global and community health major, in its third year, and this year, launch a post-baccalaureate program at the MBEST center in Marina and raise $100,000 for 12 graduates wanting to pursue medical and dental careers.
Larive is excited about the possibility of a medical school and has heard support but cautioned she could not put a timeline on it.
One example to follow is UC Merced, which was established in 2005 and will open its medical school in 2027.
Location?
Where could a medical school be located? At the Enterprise Technology Centre (formerly Borland) in Scotts Valley, where UCSC signed a 20-year lease in 2016?
Or in Monterey County, where the need for primary care is so great?
One way to expedite such an initiative, Larive told Aptos Times, would be with a partnership — for example, medical students taking classes at UCSF Medical School then coming to Santa Cruz County and Monterey County for clinical rotations.
That’s partnership model is already in use at Dominican Hospital, which teamed with Morehouse Medical School to place 8 of their graduates in family medicine clinical rotations that include Salud para La Gente and Santa Cruz Community Health.
That’s a 3-year program with Dominican’s parent, CommonSpirit, designed to address the shortage of primary care doctors.
Among those retiring: Dr Stephen Packer, who has been CEO of Montage Health in Monterey for 25 years.
His solutions: Investing in a workforce partnership with CSU Monterey Bay for nurses, home-buying assistance and child care.
AI Use
“We are piloting AI (artificial intelligence) tools to do all of the charting,” Packer said.
Another strategy: Remote patient monitoring for high blood pressure, heart failure and diabetes.
Rosa Vivian Fernandez, president and CEO of San Benito Health Foundation, partnered with CSU Monterey Bay to bring bilingual doctors licensed in Mexico to see patients at the federally qualified health center. That program, under AB 1045, also applies to dentists.
Asked about AI, Mickiewicz demurred, saying it was “very early” but Radner cited a pilot project to reduce documenting by nurses, which he hopes will mean more “face time” with patients.
Packer said AI is being used to identify patients overdue for screening such as Pap smear.
Fernandez said, “We are updating to incorporate AI in the future.”
She added, “The human interaction is not going to be obliterated.”
TOP PHOTO: Alece Birnbach creates a visual recording of the State of the Region conference presented by Monterey Bay Economic Partnership.