dr.z said:
I couldn't read it either.
Hey guys. Sorry you have to be registered to read the article. Here it is cut and pasted.
ajc.com > Business
Osteopathy school fights physician gap
By ANDY MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/03/05
Georgia's first school of osteopathic medicine opens in Suwanee in August, and ******* considers it the "perfect opportunity" to switch direction.
Currently a chiropractor, ******* now believes becoming an osteopath is his calling.
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That's why enrolling at the Gwinnett County branch campus of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, along with 84 other students, is "a no-brainer" for ******.
If successful, he would join about 48,000 osteopaths practicing in the United States - about 5 percent of the physician total. And graduates of the new Suwanee school, meanwhile, may help address Georgia's overall physician deficit.
Osteopathic physicians occupy a separate branch of medical care and have their own medical schools. But the length of their training - from four years of osteopathic school to residency programs - is the same as medical doctors.
Doctors of osteopathy, known as D.O.s, can prescribe medications and serve in any medical specialty, including surgery. There's generally no pay difference between M.D.s and D.O.s for the same work.
Osteopaths say they tend to be oriented more toward primary care than medical doctors, use their hands more to help diagnose and treat illness and injury, and focus more on treating the whole patient, rather than just symptoms.
"It's a more holistic approach that patients are looking for these days, and it has the same tools as M.D.s have," says *******, whose brother is an osteopath.
There has been a tremendous increase in osteopaths, with the number of osteopathic school graduates rising 50 percent over the past decade, much faster than medical school grads, says Dr. Paul Evans, vice dean and chief academic officer at the Suwanee school and an osteopath himself.
The rise in D.O.s has come from a greater recognition of their work, the need for primary care doctors, and more public acceptance of different forms of medicine, says Michael Patterson, a professor at the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"In the past, osteopathic physicians faced questions about their professional abilities," Patterson says. But, he adds, those concerns have largely faded as D.O.s gained full practice rights in hospitals and other health facilities.
Being accepted at the top osteopathic colleges is easier than at the top medical schools because of greater recognition of M.D. degrees and the schools' academic reputation, experts say. But below the top level, the admissions difficulty is similar, Evans says.
In Georgia, osteopathic physicians are licensed and disciplined by the same state board as medical doctors. Tension between the two branches has eased over time as more osteopaths join medical doctor residency programs. They also work together in many hospitals and as part of large physician practices.
There's more understanding now between M.D.s and D.O.s, says Dr. Edward Lin, an osteopath and a surgeon at Emory University Hospital.
The Suwanee site is the Philadelphia school's first branch campus, and it aims to train students from Georgia and other Southeastern states to practice in this region.
Georgia has a strong need for more physicians. A report released in December concludes the state's overall supply of physicians is increasing, but the number of new doctors is not rising fast enough to replace retiring doctors, keep up with Georgia's population growth and meet greater demand for medical services.
Georgia's medical schools and residency programs currently aren't producing enough physicians who practice in the state, the report said.
The latest available data, from 2002, show that Georgia slipped from 35th to 38th among states in its number of doctors per capita - the lowest ranking since compilation of these statistics began in 1989. Urban areas such as Atlanta have some underserved areas, while rural Georgia has major gaps, says the Georgia Board for Physician Workforce, which issued the physician report.
"We have an education system that has not expanded to meet this demand," says Ben Robinson, the board's executive director. "Georgia is beginning to do that now, but you need a large increase."
The new osteopathic school will help meet this demand if the physicians wind up practicing in the state, he says.
The Philadelphia College, a private, nonprofit school, paid about $5.3 million for 19 acres and a former warehouse building in Suwanee that it's renovating for classrooms and labs. The total cost of the school's start-up is about $20 million.
Of the class enrolling in August, 87 percent are from Georgia and surrounding states, Evans says.
"Our mission is to recruit, train and retain physicians in Georgia and the South," he says.
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