Despite the need to graduate more primary care physicians in Maine to address a shortage of doctors, building a medical school at the University of Maine is not currently feasible due to its cost, according to a report commissioned by the university.

Constructing a new 80,000-square-foot medical training facility at the University of Maine campus in Orono would cost about $250 million, and on top of that the university would need $22.5 million annually in state taxpayer dollars to operate the school.

While the study says a new medical school is not currently feasible, it “gives us the beginnings of a road map” to alleviate the workforce shortages in primary care, Joan Ferrini-Mundy, the University of Maine president, said in an interview on Monday.

“The state of Maine has to solve this problem of the physician shortages,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “I see this as a call to arms to do our part in what is a statewide challenge.”

The report said the University of Maine will “strengthen its statewide health and biomedical infrastructure over the next five years, positioning the state for the potential addition of a (medical doctor) program in the future,” but that costs preclude the university from doing it in the near term.

The report’s top recommendation is to expand Maine’s current system of training future doctors, which occurs at the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in Portland and through MaineHealth’s collaboration with Tufts University.

Consulting firm Tripp Umbach was paid $100,000 to study the issue, and it released its 109-page report on Monday. The report was released to the Legislature’s education committee Monday afternoon.

State lawmakers agreed to fund the study in 2023, and Tripp Umbach was chosen in late 2024 to do a comprehensive examination of the topic.

A new medical school would “require substantial and sustained financial investment from the state, well beyond the scale typically feasible for a rural state with a small population and strained hospital systems,” the report states.

The school “would require more than $250 million in startup costs, tens of millions in recurring expenses and substantial state subsidies, all of which must be in addition to the system’s existing state operating and research appropriations.”

Maine will need 120 more primary care doctors by 2030 to meet the demand, according to the study. The number of family physicians working in Maine declined from 710 in 2019 to 630 in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Both MaineHealth and the University of New England have expanded medical education in recent years, but the study says those efforts won’t be enough to meet the demand. Many of Maine’s primary care physicians are nearing retirement age, and the state’s aging population is also increasing demand.

UNE increased its physician graduating class from 165 to 200, starting with freshman entering its medical school this year. The MaineHealth/Tufts University program now graduates 41 per year, up more than 10 graduates compared to a few years ago.

UNE moved its medical program from its Biddeford campus to its Portland campus, opening a new, $90 million, 110,000-square-foot medical education building in June 2025.

James Herbert, president of the University of New England, said in an interview on Monday that the primary bottleneck in attracting and retaining more primary care doctors to Maine is not the number of medical school graduates, but the lack of residency and clerkship programs.

Residency occurs after students earn their medical degrees and receive on-the-job training from practicing doctors for about three years. Clerkships train doctors prior to graduation, with students in their third and fourth years of medical school getting on-the-job training.

The report said Maine needs to expand its residency programs.

“Every year we have students who graduate, and want to do their residency in Maine, but they have to leave the state to do their residency,” Herbert said. “They want to stay in Maine, but they can’t, and they are effectively being exported to other states.”

Herbert said it’s not an easy problem to fix, but the state could invest in residency programs to reduce costs for hospitals training the doctors, and financial incentives tied to scholarships could help persuade graduates to do their residencies in Maine.

The report notes that doctors often begin their careers at or close to where they did their residency.

To reach the national average, the report says Maine would need to almost double the capacity of its residency programs, from 333 to 660.

MaineHealth is “fully committed to supporting expansion of medical education in Maine and welcomes any opportunity to work with the state on this issue,” Dr. Linda Chaudron, the health system’s vice president of medical education, said in a statement.

State Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, who sponsored legislation to commission the report, said the doctor shortages are especially acute in rural and northern Maine.

“I’m pleased they recognized the urgent need for expanded medical training in Maine,” Baldacci said.

Gov. Janet Mills’ office said in a statement that the “governor recognizes the importance of increasing the number of doctors serving Maine communities.”

Ferrini-Mundy said the state should also consider increasing the number of other primary care providers, such as nurse practitioners. The University of Maine, University of Maine Fort Kent and University of Southern Maine currently offer nurse practitioner programs.