Yale to launch online physician associate program

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NEW HAVEN >> The Yale School of Medicine plans to launch an online physician associate program in the fall of 2016, which will include clinical clerkships across the country.

The program will be the same as Yale’s regular PA program, without the residential requirement, said James Van Rhee, the program director. It must first be approved by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant.

“It will be delivered online,” Van Rhee said. “They’ll come to New Haven, to Yale, to do some immersions … those skills that you typically can’t learn via video.”

Otherwise, he said, “nothing is different other than the delivery method.” The classes for the first 12 months of the 28-month master’s degree program will be available online.

The rest of the program is clinical, in which the student works in the field anywhere in the country.

Van Rhee said he believes it’s the first national program of its kind. Tuition will be $83,000 for the full program. He said Yale will offer four electives, rather than the traditional one or two.

PA programs have undergone tremendous growth since their start in the 1960s. “Nationally, if you look at a lot of the labor statistics, they’re predicting a 38 percent increase by 2022,” with 33,000 PA’s needed.

The degree program fits with the lifestyle for a lot of people, Van Rhee said.

“The reason I did it is I didn’t want to take the time to go to medical school,” he said. “I found this to be exactly what I wanted.”

“The goal is to contribute to the healthcare needs of the country,” said Robert Alpern, dean of the Yale School of Medicine, in a release. “Our hope is to give more qualified applicants the opportunity to earn a Yale School of Medicine Physician Associate degree.”