Eastern Kentucky University hopes to add a college of osteopathic medicine; legislation required to do so

Kentucky Health News

Eastern Kentucky University is hoping to add a college of osteopathic medicine to help with the state’s growing need for physicians, Lauren Minor reports for Lexington’s WLEX-TV.

The proposed college would create another pathway for future doctors to be educated and trained in the state.

“Last year I think the three medical schools in Kentucky had about 14,000 applicants,” EKU President David McFaddin told Minor. “I think about 500 of those students got in. So there are a lot of students interested in going to medical school, who are looking for that right spot and we think EKU can be that spot.”

Minor reports, “94% of Kentucky’s counties already have a shortage of primary care providers. Only 27% of the Kentucky physicians who completed residency between 2013 and 2022 are practicing in medically underserved areas. Only 17% of Kentucky’s primary care physicians practice in rural areas.”

The challenge for EKU to add this program is that “under Kentucky laws governing higher education, the state’s six comprehensive universities offer undergraduate and master’s degrees but are not allowed to offer professional degrees in medical areas and architecture or degrees beyond the master’s level with the exception of in education,” McKenna Horsley reported for the Kentucky Lantern on Jan. 17.

So, for EKU to open the state’s second college of osteopathic medicine in Kentucky, the first hurdle will be the passage of  House Bill 56, which would allow the university to offer doctorates of osteopathic medicine degrees for professional practice and licensure. This is the second year Speaker Pro Tem David Meade, R-Stanford, has sponsored a bill to allow EKU to provide such a program.  As of Jan. 26, this year’s bill had 17 co-sponsors.

Last year’s bill passed 91-0 out of the House of Representatives, but upon advancement to the Senate, the General Assembly requested and funded a feasibility study and did not advance the bill, reports The Lane Report.  

Meade told the Lantern that the Deloitte Consulting study confirmed that EKU has the capacity to run an osteopathic medicine school.

The University of Pikeville is home to the state’s first osteopathic medicine school. The state’s other medical schools are at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.