Stony Brook med school ranks low in national study

Stony Brook has finished in the bottom 10 of medical schools that are meeting the country's social health care needs, according to a study.

Researchers from George Washington University ranked the country's 141 medical schools according to how well they meet a "social mission" in three areas: how many primary care physicians the medical school has produced, how many work in underserved areas and how many are "underrepresented" minorities. The study, published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at 60,043 doctors who graduated from those medical schools from 1999-2001.

President Barack Obama and others have raised concerns about a shortage of primary care doctors, especially with 32 million more people to get health insurance in 2014 under the health care overhaul. Primary care doctors, often paid less than specialists, nevertheless provide most of the preventive and ongoing care considered key to reducing health care costs.

In the study, New York's 13 medical schools ranked "well below the middle," said the study's chief author, Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan.

Stony Brook was ranked at 133. The New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in Westbury was ranked 91.

Asked why the state's medical schools ranked so low, Mullan said: "This is a question I don't entirely know the answer to." Mullan said schools in the Northeast and private medical schools - as well as those that received National Institutes of Health research funding - tended not to rank as high.

Dr. Aldustus Jordan, associate dean for student and minority affairs at Stony Brook's School of Medicine, said Stony Brook has many programs to encourage students to work with underserved and minority communities and has been aggressive in seeking diversity. But, he said, "We're not in the position to dictate that people go into primary care." He said more has to be done nationally to encourage students. "The entire medical education establishment needs to rethink the issue," he said.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Lawrence Smith and Dr. Veronica Catanese from the new Hofstra University School of Medicine said the three areas the study looked at are not necessarily linked and that a low score in one area could drag down a school's overall ranking.

Stony Brook ranked 117 in its primary care doctor output, 113 in the number of doctors practicing in underserved areas, and 99 in minority doctors.