RENO -- A plan to improve the quality of medical care in Nevada during the next decade was unanimously endorsed by the Board of Regents on Friday, even though its centerpiece -- a proposed Health Sciences Center -- would require a huge financial commitment from state and private sources.

If brought to fruition, the program would require doubling to $53 million state support to the medical school. It also would require a capital construction budget of $300 million to $350 million over the next decade.

Dr. John McDonald, dean of the University of Nevada Medical School, said the school has a responsibility to respond to the state's health care needs.

"I am deeply concerned that without expanding the mission of the medical school and other health education programs, Nevada's health status will continue to deteriorate," McDonald said.

Regents were unanimously in favor of the concept, and endorsed its continued development and refinement.

"I think we ought to proceed, otherwise it's going to be another 10 years," Regent Thalia Dondero said.

Regent Howard Rosenberg said he supports the proposal, but questioned whether the higher education basics would suffer with the focus on the center.

Chancellor Jim Rogers reassured Rosenberg that the basics would not suffer but would see additional support with the Health Sciences Center. The development of a world class medical center will raise the quality of students and bring in funding from sources "we never thought of," he said.

While acknowledging that the medical center project will be costly, Rogers said the state's economy and the personal wealth of Nevadans is such that it can be accomplished.

A consultant hired by the university system to look at ways to improve medical care in Nevada painted a bleak picture of the current state of medicine in a presentation to the board.

"Some of what we're going to say may sound critical or harsh," said Greg Hart, a consultant from the Minneapolis firm of LarsonAllen, hired by the system to study the issue.

But, Hart said: "You're state's health care system is in and headed toward a very difficult situation."

Information provided by Hart showed Nevada has the lowest ratio of nurses to population in the country; ranks 47th in the number of doctors per 100,000 residents; and ranks 47th in the number of physicians in residency training, the pipeline for future doctors.

"People do not get care when they should," Hart said.

The report also showed the limited range of programs offered to doctors at the University of Nevada Medical School. Only eight of 25 key programs are offered at the school. Missing are such residencies as neurology, orthopedics and urology.

By contrast, New Mexico offers 17 of the programs. Utah offers all 25.

Hart said the issue with the medical school is not quality. It's that physicians in training have to go elsewhere to train in many specialties. And many who leave do not come back, he said.

Nevada needs to double its medical school enrollment and expand its residencies, Hart said.

The solution presented to the board is the Health Sciences Center, a university-based set of health education and biomedical research facilities. All the health programs would be coordinated under the program.

The proposed center would augment existing programs, which would continue to operate in both Reno, Las Vegas and other, rural locations.

The program would not come cheaply. Over a decade, the Heath Sciences Center would see funding increase from a current medical school budget of $137 million to $307 million. State funding would grow from $27 million to $53 million a year over 10 years.

The funding increase would allow the medical school class size to increase from 52 to 96 by 2011; increase the number of residents and fellows from 194 to 444; increase the faculty from 189 to 500; and increase research funding from $14.8 million to $48 million.

How to pay for it is a significant issue for regents and the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Hart said it will take a patchwork of funding sources to build and operate the Health Sciences Center. Tuition from increased medical professional classes, additional revenue from patient care, donations from the community and federal funding all would be part of the mix, he said.

If the Health Sciences Center becomes a reality, the result will be 800 to 1,000 new physicians practicing in Nevada over the next 15 years and 1,600 to 2,400 new nurses and 600 to 700 new pharmacists during the same period.

It is critical to get funding for the center in the upcoming 2007-09 budget requests, McDonald said.

Sen. Joe Heck, R-Henderson, is a member of both a governor's commission and the legislative health care committee, which are crafting reports on health care education needs.

Next session, Heck said, "All the stars are aligned for something good to happen. ... We have so many diverse groups looking at it (the Health Sciences Center) that if we can all come together and agree on a plan to move forward, it's pretty hard to ignore."

Review-Journal writer K.C. Howard contributed to this report.