The University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Physician Assistant program is ranked No. 3 in the country in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings released Tuesday.
“We are extremely proud of this high ranking by our exceptional and highly competitive physician assistant program,” says John Sampson, MD, PhD, MBA, vice chancellor for health affairs for the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and dean of the CU School of Medicine. “I commend program director Jonathan Bowser, PA, MS, his leadership team, and all of the faculty for their contributions to this outstanding educational program.”
Each year, U.S. News releases rankings of medical schools and their programs. The U.S. News overall rankings for medical schools are divided into two categories: Research and Primary Care. On Tuesday, the CU School of Medicine was grouped into the second group of research institutions and the third group for primary care institutions. U.S. News no longer releases specific rank order listings.
In the research category, the second group of schools consists of 36 institutions; the top group lists 15 schools. In the second group, the CU School of Medicine has substantially higher total research dollars when compared to the other institutions. The CU School of Medicine’s total research grants and contracts totaled $636.94 million; the next school in the group was $455.61 million.
In determining research category tiers, U.S. News calculates grants and contracts per faculty member and includes that as factor in its grouping methodology. The CU School of Medicine employs a higher number of full-time faculty compared to other medical schools that do not include advance practice professionals and other clinical practitioners on their faculty. As a result, the per-faculty grant total is lower than peer schools.
For primary care groupings, Colorado is included in group three, which includes 34 schools; groups one and two combined include 50 schools.
To determine its primary care grouping, U.S. News uses an indicator measuring the proportion of a medical school’s 2016 to 2018 graduates who are practicing in a primary care specialty, such as family medicine, general internal medicine, and general pediatrics. U.S. News puts less weight on the percentage of graduates entering primary care residencies. According to the numbers used by U.S. News, 48% of CU School of Medicine graduates enter primary care residencies; it calculates that 25.6% percent of graduates are practicing in a primary care specialty.
“We will carefully review the data included in the U.S. News rankings to evaluate their process to ensure that our school is accurately represented,” Sampson said. “At the same time, we are confident that our educational programs are among the best in the country, so we will continue to measure outcomes that matter, such as placement in the nation’s best residency programs and the success rates of our students in their board scores.”
Other CU rankings released Tuesday:
- Physical Therapy Programs – No. 17
- Most Graduates Practicing in Rural Areas – No. 30
- Most Graduates Practicing in Medically Underserved Areas – No. 68
- Most Graduates Practicing in Primary Care – No. 73
