To the editor:

Apparently, a committee has been formed, co-chaired by Senator Pamela Lauria who represents Barrington, Bristol and East Providence, to look into the feasibility of creating a medical school at URI presumably with the purpose of addressing what is felt to be looming crisis in primary care in Rhode Island. As a primary care internist with 40 plus years and counting practicing in Rhode Island, I have a front row seat at the deteriorating state of primary care.

The thought that creating a new medical school that will, in any kind of timely fashion, stamp out legions of home grown primary care doctors that will stay in state is the highest order of magical thinking.

Doctors, like the rest of humanity, look to maximize the return on their investment, be it money or time. Investing 2 to 5 extra years of training to become a specialist such as a dermatologist or orthopedist, making a living wage and at no additional educational costs, can increase annual income by 50% to more than 100%. Primary care just does not make economic sense and medical students, no matter what else they are, are certainly smart enough to figure that out.

It is my perspective that most doctors are underemployed, myself included, but that is an argument for another day. I don’t think the answer is to spend more money on doctors. However, it is clear that overall physician compensation is skewed toward specialists, resulting in an understandable dearth of interest in primary care and the subsequent gutting of this most important specialty across the state and the nation.

Another medical school, no matter what its configuration, won’t fix this.

Geoff Berg
Warren