Due to a reporting error in this article Phyllis Horns' title was incorrect. She is the interim vice chancellor for health sciences at East Carolina University.
State health care officials say proposed budget increases aren't enough to alleviate the growing health care crisis.
UNC-system medical schools say addressing both the shortage of professionals and the costs of patients' unpaid medical bills is necessary to fulfill a mandate of serving the state's low-income population.
Health care officials requested more than two times the funds proposed by the UNC-system Board of Governors last week and they're bracing for the N.C. General Assembly to grant them even less.
The 2009-11 budget increase approved by the board listed health care as its second-to-last funding priority out of 10. Campus safety was the number one priority and it's possible the health schools could receive no increases in funding.
East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine serves more than 20000 low-income patients a year.
The school asked for $5 million" but the BOG cut it to $2 million.
""I would certainly hope that the General Assembly look at the entire budget request and look at what is needed" particularly in the time of a financial shortfall" said Phyllis Horns, interim dean for the Brody School of Medicine.
Maintaining the health of our citizenry — there's hardly anything more important.""
Both UNC Health Care and the Brody School provide free health care to anyone in need. They're struggling to meet the needs of a growing number of low-income patients.
""The volume of the care being provided is well beyond what was originally anticipated — beyond what this medical school can continue to do and still maintain its financial viability"" Horns said.
Increasing access to health care for rural regions is one of the needs identified by the UNC Tomorrow Commission Report, released last year as a mandate for how the UNC system can better serve the state.
That need might be put on the back burner for awhile.
Karen McCall, a spokeswoman for UNC Health Care, said that UNC Physicians and Associates, a group that provides free health care, is preparing for less funding.
We desperately need the program to be funded" but everybody is very realistic in looking at all the competing programs that we're submitting" McCall said. It's going to be a tough budget year.""
At N.C. Central University" the department of nursing is trying to ease the shortage by allowing second-degree students to graduate in 16 months instead of two years.
Lorna Harris chairwoman of the nursing department" said she hopes the program will get enough funding to start in January — they still need funds to fill the program's positions.
""I believe that in (the legislature's) deliberation" providing additional health care providers will be a key factor for them" Harris said.
Without the right funding, North Carolinians in need of health care could end up without it.
We very much would not like to need to turn away any patients" Horns said.
If we're not able to get support from the state to provide the care" I think we will have … to figure out how we take care of those who cannot afford to pay for medical care.""
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