The University of Maine System has partnered with a national consultant to study the feasibility of establishing a public medical school in the state.

The decision to commission a study was prompted by the critical shortage of doctors in rural parts of Maine, and it has the support of several medical associations, as well as the Maine Legislature and the governor’s office, which provided funding.

To lead the study, the system selected the firm Tripp Umbach, which has conducted dozens of similarly feasibility studies across the country, including in rural states like Idaho and Montana.

“We appreciate that Maine policymakers and health care leaders see our university as central to addressing the state’s health care workforce shortages, which are particularly acute in rural regions where we are so strongly rooted and include the need for more physicians,” said Joan Ferrini-Mundy, president of the University of Maine at Orono, the system’s flagship campus.

“While we are realistic about the substantial resources required for starting and sustaining a public medical school, we look forward to working with Tripp Umbach and statewide stakeholders to understand the opportunities for our university, the broader system and our partners to build upon our strengths to further improve health care access and outcomes for Maine and beyond,” Ferrini-Mundy said.

A new school likely would be affiliated with the system’s flagship Orono campus and would partner with Northern Light Health, the state’s second-largest health care provider and the parent company of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. The legislation for the study was drafted by Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor.

“As with Maine in general, our physician population is aging. It has been difficult to keep pace with retirements and demographic shifts to fulfill the health care needs of northern Maine,” said Dr. James Jarvis, director of clinical education at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center. “This exciting first step, determining the feasibility of a new medical school in Penobscot County, may spark interest in current physicians to move here, while looking toward building a sustainable physician workforce for the future.”

The study will involve stakeholders throughout the state to determine whether creating a medical school makes sense and what resources might be needed to make it happen. Its conclusions and recommendations are due to the Legislature in November 2025.

Any proposal would go through a lengthy review process and would need approval from the system’s board of trustees, although the trustees already are authorized to operate a college of medicine and award MDs.

Maine’s only medical school operates out of the University of New England’s Portland campus.

The college moved its College of Osteopathic Medicine from Biddeford to Portland this year to increase enrollment and train more doctors.

That school partners closely with MaineHealth and its biggest hospital, Maine Medical Center.

The degrees conferred at UNE’s school are doctor in osteopathic medicine (DO), which is slightly different than a doctor of medicine (MD).

UNE leaders already have lined up against the idea of competition. In an opinion column this spring, college President James Herbert said a new school would not solve the state’s problem.

“Not only would starting another medical school in Maine be extremely expensive, doing so would not add more doctors to Maine’s workforce,” he wrote. “This seems counterintuitive, but the simple fact is that Maine does not have a shortage of medical students; it has a shortage of clinical training and residency slots, which are the key to keeping those students in the state after they graduate.”