BRISTOL, Tenn. --

King College drew one step closer to opening a medical college when its proposed School of Medicine & Health Sciences Center won initial approval from a major accreditation panel.

“It’s a significant step forward in developing a medical school,” King College President Greg Jordan said Thursday of winning “applicant school” status from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which oversees accrediting for all medical-education programs – across North America – that lead to M.D. degrees.

By gaining that status, King’s proposed school has met the first round of requirements that must be met to be an eligible institution.

King College is seeking to open its school in 2014 at a site off Interstate 81’s Exit 14 in Abingdon, Va. Upon completion, the school is expected to have 60 to 75 students during its first year. One of the objectives for the school is to graduate trained physicians who will practice in rural areas and help reverse a worsening physician shortage, according to a news release from King.

Jordan said the approval will now “give [King] access to resources” across the North American medical community, including valuable input from consultants and experts on preparing the medical school for future operations. “It’s a critically important dimension of the planning process,” Jordan said.

King was one of seven proposed medical schools nationwide to earn “applicant school” status.

Jordan said King College has already won active, consistent support for its planned School of Medicine from Wellmont Health System. But he added that King is continuing efforts to establish a similar medical partnership with Mountain States Health Alliance, the other major health system in the region.

“It’s critically important that there be a collaborative effort between [King] and the two major health systems,” Jordan said.      

Tripp Umbach, a Pennsylvania-based medical-education consulting firm, has projected that King’s medical college could have a “business volume impact” of $50 million during its first year – and that number could rise to $70 million by the seventh year.

Recently, a separate governing body for the proposed medical school has been set up, the news release states.

“The King School of Medicine Inc. is the newly formed Virginia entity that will guide the development and progress of the King School of Medicine,” Jordan said. “With the assistance of the firm of McGuire Woods of Richmond, Va., the corporation has established articles, bylaws and governance structure under which to operate.”

rbrown@bristolnews.com
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King med school gets initial OK