LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Southern Nevada has made big strides when it comes to health care in the region, adding a medical school at UNLV and hosting two private schools for doctors.
But it still has a long way to go, and a lot of money required to get there.
VIDEO: Steve Sebelius talks to David Damore, head of the Brookings Mountain West and the Lincy Institute at UNLV, about the importance of long-term funding
That was just one of the conclusions of a special forum on health care convened by the Vegas Chamber on Wednesday, which brought together academics, doctors and hospital system administrators to discuss health care in the valley.
One surprising stat: Just 16% of medical students who graduate here stay to practice medicine in the valley. In other states with medical schools, that number is 40%.
In part, that's due to a lack of graduate medical education slots, the residencies that new med school grads perform to get training in their specialty.
The 2025 Legislature devoted an additional $9 million to graduate medical education, but consultant Paul Umbach says the state needs a lot more.
"I think if you really look at it, $50 million to $100 million really will get you a long way to build the programs we need to keep doctors in Nevada," he said. "Anything short of that puts us in a situation that will never catch up. We won't be able to keep the physicians here in the state, and in some ways, we'll never get the health and health improvement that we need."
Umbach says the money pays off — in economic impact and in a healthier population. He stressed looking at the issue like economic development, luring the kinds of businesses that the state wants to see set up shop here. Good health care, he said, is a selling point in trying to attract different kinds of other industries, he said.
But the current rate of attrition of students out of the state isn't going to fix the shortage of doctors or the shortage of specialists.
"We have more medical students than ever before, but if only one out of eight of them stay to practice, we'll never get there," he said. "We have to get it to be that half of them at least stay, and that's been the experience of other states," Umbach said. "So we won't get a younger physician population unless we grow them and we get started with a program that works better."
David Damore, head of the Brookings Mountain West and the Lincy Institute at UNLV, says the process won't happen overnight, but rather over the course of years. And that means a long-term funding commitment, not just a quick fix.
"The more important part is sustaining the funding over time," he said. "Nevada always has a history of saying, 'Oh, we put up this money for one cycle because it was there; next time, we've got to start all over.' So this needs to be part of the budget, ongoing, I think that's the important part."
Damore said the benefits of investing in the residencies include better health outcomes for locals, keeping health care dollars here in Nevada rather than sending them to out-of-state providers and building jobs not just for doctors, but nurses, technicians and other related work.
The Vegas Chamber's Southern Nevada Forum will take a deeper look at the health care issue to make recommendations to the 2027 Nevada Legislature.
