This article is the first in a series spotlighting UNMC’s economic impact throughout the state of Nebraska.
Roger Wells knows all too well the impact UNMC has on the state. Both his family and his community have benefited from UNMC’s outreach programs to rural Nebraska.
A physician assistant in St. Paul, Neb., Wells, 60, has been working in St. Paul since he graduated from UNMC’s PA program in 1987.
Economic impact
It’s estimated that UNMC graduates working throughout Nebraska generate an economic impact of $3.9 billion. The impact by profession breaks down like this:
- physicians have a $2.7 billion impact or $1.3 million per graduate;
- dentists ($534 million total/$750,000 per grad);
- pharmacists ($339.9 million/$300,000 per grad);
- advanced practice registered nurses ($147 million/$250,000 per grad);
- physician assistants ($134.7 million/$250,000 per grad); and
- physical therapists ($111.4 million/$200,000 per grad).
“It’s estimated that about 45 percent of health care providers in rural Nebraska are planning to retire in the next 10 years,” Wells said. “That’s a real problem, because even if you bring in additional nurse practitioners and physician assistants, you’ll never reach the established levels required to optimally meet the needs of rural Nebraska.”
Two UNMC programs — the Rural Health Opportunities Program and the Health Science Education Complex at the University of Nebraska at Kearney — are geared toward addressing this problem.
Wells applauds UNMC for initiating these programs. Two of his children went through RHOP and are now working in Omaha — one as a PA in Nebraska Medicine’s inpatient pain management program, the other as an internal medicine fellow at UNMC. A third child is working at Creighton University as a dietitian in the ICU and is a student in UNMC’s master’s program in dietetics.
Over the years, Wells estimates that he has directed between 15-20 rural Nebraska students into the RHOP program.
The opening of the Health Science Education Complex at UNK this fall will create additional opportunities for rural students to pursue health careers in nursing and the allied health professions.
“UNMC’s collaboration with UNK on the new health complex will open doors for rural students and have an impact that will be felt for generations to come,” Wells said.
With all the new health care careers that will be spawned through RHOP and the Health Science Education Complex, Wells said it’s easy to see how millions of dollars of economic growth will be infused in the state.