SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Mizzou wants to expand its medical school by partnering with both Mercy and Cox in Springfield.

This is in the planning phase but the hope is this partnership will help bring more doctors to rural areas of southwest Missouri.

A recent study says 90% of Missouri counties lack adequate access to physicians with Webster County being among most needy.

In a nutshell, Mizzou medical students will come to Springfield and do their residency with either Mercy or Cox. In 10-years, 51-medical students and 27-physicians will be in place in southwest Missouri.

MU says the Springfield "campus" would offer significant economic benefits to the state, create thousands of new jobs and expand medical care in rural counties.

The MU medical school now admits just 96 new students each year out of 1,500 applicants. That makes its enrollment about half those of such institutions such as the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and the medical school at Saint Louis University. ----

Edited news release from MU School of Medicine:

Medical Education Expansion Would Enhance Economy, Create Jobs Clinical Campus Supporters Announce Economic Impact and Investment Figures

A plan to improve health by expanding medical education in southwest Missouri would add more than $390 million annually to the states economy and create 3,500 new jobs. The economic growth figures were unveiled Friday at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce by supporters of establishing the citys first medical school clinical campus.

CoxHealth and Mercy Health Systems in Springfield and the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia are designing the campus to expand MUs medical student class size and meet the need for more physicians. More than 90 percent of Missouri counties lack adequate access to health care professionals. Missouri also ranks among the top 20 states in terms of the number of people 65 and older who will require more medical care as they age. While the number of elderly is expected to double by 2030, the number of physicians who care for aging patients with chronic illnesses is expected to decline.

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MU medical school seeks to establish Springfield campus