Freeman Foundation Pledges $8 Million to
Educate, Recruit Physicians for Vermont
by Rick Blount

University of Vermont College of Medicine Interim Dean John Evans, Ph.D., today announced that the Freeman Foundation has pledged approximately $8 million over the next four years to encourage Vermont medical students to practice in Vermont. If successful, the gift could continue after the fourth year if the foundation’s board decides to extend it.

The gift, which will be administered by the University of Vermont (UVM) College of Medicine, establishes scholarships for medical students who will be designated as Freeman Vermont Medical Scholars. Both Vermonters and out-of-state students who show willingness to commit to practicing medicine in Vermont will be eligible. The gift also will fund programs that place students in rural areas during medical school and recruit physicians to rural areas.

The gift stems from concerns about a shortage of physicians in Vermont’s rural areas. Eleven of the state’s 14 counties fall below federal standards for the ratio of primary care physicians to area residents. Federal standards consider that an adequate supply of primary care physicians should be 80-90 physicians per 100,000 people. The majority of Vermont’s 11 most under-served counties have fewer than 67 physicians per 100,000 people. This problem is compounded by the fact that physician salaries in rural Vermont tend to lag behind those in other states, while UVM medical students tend to graduate after four years with a higher than average student-loan debt load of $103,000.

"The economic realities of Vermont create a cycle that, frankly, discourages our graduates from practicing here because they have so much debt to pay off," said Evans. "Through this gift, the Freeman Foundation has given us the tools to break the cycle." Most of the gift - $1.6 million each year - will fund annual scholarships for medical students who are Vermonters, as well as a select group of third- and fourth-year medical students who are not enrolled as Vermont residents, but who have demonstrated special interest in practicing in Vermont’s rural, underserved areas. The amount of each student’s scholarship in both of the above categories will be approximately $10,000 each year.

Each year, the remaining $400,000 of the gift will go to programs aimed at educating the students about rural health care and eventually matching them with communities that need physicians.

Recent state- and UVM-sponsored programs have shown some success in attracting physicians to rural areas by offering loan repayment. However, the Freeman gift provides a much-needed boost to these programs, according to UVM’s point person on primary care.

"Vermont’s efforts to attract physicians to rural areas have started to reduce the shortage problem, but there has not been sufficient funding to compete with other states who also need physicians in rural areas," said Mildred Reardon, M.D., associate dean for primary care. "Thanks to the Freeman family, Vermont will now have a program which makes a long-term investment in educating Vermonters who will be able to practice medicine in Vermont’s rural and underserved areas. By significantly decreasing the debt burden of the recipients, the Freeman Vermont Medical Scholars Program will make practicing in rural and underserved areas financially feasible. This program will link physicians-in-training with the areas in Vermont that have specific needs."

More than 5,000 people apply for the 93 seats in each year’s incoming class at UVM’s College of Medicine. Vermonters who apply are given preference for admission if they are qualified. Vermonters pay less tuition than out-of-staters – $20,000 in-state vs. $35,000 out-of-state for the incoming class this year.

College officials do not expect the Freeman Foundation gift to substantially increase the number of Vermonters in the medical school – but instead to increase the number of graduates who stay in Vermont to practice, or return to Vermont after residency training out-of-state. The likelihood that the students will practice in Vermont is increased by the Freeman gift because the scholarships reduce the average student’s debt by $40,000.

Approximately 40 percent of the physicians practicing in Vermont either graduated from UVM’s College of Medicine or did their residency at UVM/Fletcher Allen.

"This Freeman Foundation gift will make medical education in Vermont more affordable – which has enormous implications for the health of Vermonters and the economics of the state," said Evans.

UVM’s College of Medicine was established in 1822 as the seventh medical school in the nation, and the first at a state university.