An Iowa legislator shares her stance on a bill that would impact medical programs at a couple of state universities.

House File 386 is a bill that would require the University of Iowa College of Medicine as well as Des Moines University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine to develop a study to transition from a four-year to a three-year program. Iowa District 14 Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott shares that legislators are allowed to enact the University of Iowa to go through with this, since they are state funded. However, she states it’s unfair for the state government to enforce the same policies on a private institution, with Des Moines University. 

Trone-Garriott confirms that some of the faculty at Des Moines University told her that they considered implementing this program in the 1980s, but came to the conclusion that it didn’t fit their structure. She advocated with the Senate Health and Human Services Committee about whether it was a good idea to coerce an institution to do something they didn’t want to do. Trone-Garriott tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the committee says they still plan to go through with it, leading to her frustration.

“It’s just another example of politicians thinking they know better. DMU has been training physicians for 127 years, they know their stuff. So we really shouldn’t be getting in the way of that and trying to mess with their curriculum in this way. If they thought it was a good idea, that’s the direction we’d be moving in.”

Supporters believe that getting more students through the medical program will help the workforce. The bill remains alive as it made it through the Iowa Legislature’s second funnel week deadline.