COLUMBIA MU Medical School expansions in Columbia and Springfield would not receive state funding in the 2018 fiscal year under Gov. Eric Greitens' current budget proposal. This comes on the heels of the governor's announcement in January to withhold $4 million of the MU Cooperative Medicine Program's $10 million FY 2017 appropriation.

In the short term, the medical school's projects will proceed as planned, said Weldon Webb, UM associate dean for Springfield Clinical Campus Implementation . The loss of funding would not affect the construction of the Patient-Centered Care Learning Centerat MU, which is expected to be completed this summer.

According to a School of Medicine fact sheet, the $42.5 million, 97,088-square-foot facility will include classrooms, an anatomy lab, a simulation center, patient-based learning labs and educational services. The center is located directly west of the J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library and south of Jesse Hall across from Stankowski Field.

However, both the Columbia facility and the new Springfield Clinical Campus that opened in June could face tightened operating budgets and more difficulty hiring faculty and staff if state funding is cut off. Through reserves, Webb said, MU was able to withstand the $4 million withheld by Greitens in January. But getting the legislature to put funding back into the budget for the upcoming fiscal year is a top priority.

Matt Morrow, president and CEO of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, shared similar sentiments.

"What I hope that we as a community are able to do is have productive conversations with the governor and the legislature," Morrow said. There is a shortage of physicians in the state, especially in the rural areas, Murrow said, and giving students opportunities to fill those jobs helps grow the economy.

The first class of students with a shot at increasing the supply of physicians in the state are currently in their first year at the Springfield facility. MU medical students who spend their first two years at MU can spend their third and fourth years doing clinical rotations at CoxHealth and Mercy hospitals in Springfield as part of a private-public partnership.

Currently, there are nine third-year students in Springfield. MU is expected to admit 32 additional medical students each year as a result of the expansion, eventually pushing the total to 64 third-and-fourth-year students doing clinical training in Springfield.

CoxHealth CEO Steve Edwards recognized the need for budgetary belt-tightening, but reiterated the significance of funding the program.

"We hope that we can find continued funding because this is such a great program for MU and for southwest Missouri," Edwards said. "We want it to not just continue but really be funded more deeply and allowed to really prosper."

Edwards said the Columbia facility is more in need of funding than Springfield's, but that the clinical center wants MU's students to be successful. But despite the long term uncertainty, he said the university has assured him the program will continue through the School of Medicine.

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MU Medical School expansions won't get state funding next year under proposed budget - Columbia Missourian