Leaders of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Chattanooga hope to expand the two-year program for third- and fourth-year medical students into a full four-year program, the college's dean said Thursday.
"We're doing some very serious work on this," Dr. David Seaberg said as he briefed Erlanger Health System trustees at the hospital's monthly board meeting.
"The state of Tennessee needs more physicians, and the only way to really expand the University of Tennessee system is to look at Chattanooga and Knoxville," he said.
Medical students in the program usually spend their first two years on the main Memphis campus and do rotations at Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga, he said.
The Memphis campus is "maxed out" in terms of student capacity, so Chattanooga and Knoxville are exploring the move to a four-year campus over a period of a few years, he said.
Adding a full program in Chattanooga means 25 to 30 more students could be trained here, Seaberg said.
Trustees also gave final approval to new, more stringent criteria for Erlanger management bonus payments next year, based on fiscal year 2011 performance.
The hospital must earn an operating profit of at least $12 million before bonuses are considered.
Bonuses will be awarded to management this year based on fiscal 2010 performance.
Gentry, senior vice president of human resources, said after the meeting that specific payment amounts won't be announced for a couple of weeks.
Bonuses won't be paid until the 20 percent of Erlanger staff members who earn less than market norms for their positions get raises, said Kim White, chairwoman of the committee that developed the bonus criteria.
She said hospital leaders still are figuring out how to fit those into the budget.
"It's just evaluating where we are," she said.