{"id":1959,"date":"2025-03-05T10:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2025-05-20T10:53:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T15:53:47","slug":"house-bill-125-filed-to-establish-college-of-osteopathic-medicine-at-tarleton-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/2025\/03\/05\/house-bill-125-filed-to-establish-college-of-osteopathic-medicine-at-tarleton-state\/","title":{"rendered":"House Bill 125 Filed To Establish College of Osteopathic Medicine at Tarleton State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Purple<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate 125 Years of Excellence at Tarleton State University, House Bill 125 was filed this week to legislatively recognize a new College of Osteopathic Medicine at the institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Rep. Shelby Slawson (District 59) announced the filing in collaboration with state Senator Brian Birdwell (District 22). Both legislators serve Erath County, where Tarleton State\u2019s main campus is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prominent goal of the College of Osteopathic Medicine is to address the glaring disparities that exist in healthcare access and quality in rural and medically underserved communities. Texas ranks 47th in the nation in patient-physician ratio. In rural areas, the state has just 13 physicians per 10,000 residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough our mission-driven approach to offer access, opportunity and affordability, Tarleton State is committed to preparing the next generation of primary care physicians across the great state of Texas,\u201d said President Dr. James Hurley. \u201cBy expanding medical educational opportunity and advancing rural healthcare access, Tarleton State University is helping build a stronger, healthier Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With exponential enrollment growth over the past five years, Tarleton State now draws students from 228 Texas counties \u2014 ranking third among all Texas universities in representation statewide. A formal feasibility study conducted by Tripp Umbach reinforces the university\u2019s role in addressing Texas\u2019 evolving healthcare needs, particularly in rural and underserved communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEstablishing a College of Osteopathic Medicine at Tarleton State University answers the call for an increasing demand for physicians around the state of Texas,\u201d said Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp. \u201cThe Texas A&M System is proud to support this initiative and offer resources to meet rural healthcare needs across Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feasibility study data confirms the growing demand for physicians in Texas, driven by an aging population and rapid growth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20% of Texas residents will be 60 or older by 2030, and the number of residents aged 65 and older is projected to more than double to 8.3 million by 2050, further increasing healthcare demands. Rural areas face significant challenges, such as a shortage of healthcare providers, limited access to specialty care and fewer healthcare infrastructure investments. Expanding the list of publicly funded medical schools to include Tarleton State and strengthening local rural-based residency programs are essential to sustaining Texas\u2019 healthcare workforce and supporting the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCreating Tarleton State University\u2019s College of Osteopathic Medicine will allow medical professionals to learn and train in the area where they are most needed \u2014 rural Texas,\u201d said Slawson. \u201cAs the university celebrates its 125th anniversary, I am grateful to Speaker Burrows for assigning House Bill number 125 to this important development for our region. I am proud to partner with Tarleton State and Senator Birdwell on this investment in Stephenville, rural Texas and our healthcare workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A College of Osteopathic Medicine at Tarleton State, supporting class sizes up to 150 students, would stimulate regional economic growth and job creation while enhancing healthcare access. According to the feasibility study, by 2040, up to 360 new physicians would enter the Texas workforce, contributing an economic impact of nearly $1 billion statewide while also providing an estimated $259.2 million in healthcare cost savings to the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an important next step in addressing the healthcare workforce needs for rural Texans and will further establish Tarleton State as the leader of rural healthcare throughout the state,\u201d said Birdwell. \u201cI look forward to partnering with Rep. Slawson on this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate 125 Years of Excellence at Tarleton State University, House Bill 125 was filed this week to legislatively recognize a new College of Osteopathic Medicine at the institution. State …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":19,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,17,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-strategy","category-updates"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"brian","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/author\/brian-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/09\/Fall-Campus-Water-Tower_8465-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["In the News<\/a>","Strategy<\/a>","Updates<\/a>"],"unlinked":["In the News<\/span>","Strategy<\/span>","Updates<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 11 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 5, 2025","modified":"Updated on May 20, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 5, 2025 10:51 am","modified":"Updated on May 20, 2025 10:53 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Water tower with Tarleton State University logo, surrounded by autumn trees.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1960,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions\/1960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}