Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun

Students sit outside the student union on the campus of UNLV Wednesday, March 6,2013.

By Andrew Doughman (contact)

Friday, Oct. 25, 2013 | 2 a.m.

Anybody who thinks injecting the Las Vegas economy with $900 million is a good idea, please take heed.

If a new UNLV medical school opened in 2017, it could improve health outcomes in Las Vegas, create thousands of jobs, bolster state coffers by $44 million in annual tax revenue, and have an overall economic impact of at least $882 million by 2030, according to a draft copy of a study conducted for UNLVs Lincy Institute.

The report from Tripp Umbach, a top national health care consulting firm, is the first to examine various medical school models for Southern Nevada and evaluate the economic impact of each.

It concluded that the price tag for a medical school at UNLV would be $68 million, much less than the $220 million estimated cost for an academic medical center near UMC that was discussed earlier this year. And it recommends an allopathic medical school that trains doctors of medicine rather than an osteopathic medical school like Touro University in Henderson, which trains doctors of osteopathy.

Regent Mark Doubrava first proposed the idea of a second medical school in Southern Nevada in March.

He welcomed the reports findings and said its time for the state to have a medical school in both Southern and Northern Nevada.

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Report: Medical school at UNLV could have $900 million economic impact