A bill aimed at boosting the number of physicians in Iowa long term advanced in an Iowa House subcommittee Wednesday. The bill would guarantee residency interviews for Iowa students applying for specialties in primary care, psychiatry, obstetrics, gynecology and others at the University of Iowa.
Keith Saunders, a lobbyist for the University of Iowa, says while the university supports the intent, the teaching hospitals don’t have the resources to support it.
“That would literally be hundreds of new students doing rotations in our hospital. With the volume of patients we have and the number of learners we have in the hospital, we simply don't have the capacity to accommodate that at this point.”
To be eligible, students would need to be a resident of Iowa or have an undergraduate or medical degree from an Iowa college.