The potential elimination of 107 jobs at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine under Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed fiscal 2017 budget would chip away at gains made in recent years and could lead to reductions in health-care services in the Springfield area, the school’s dean said Thursday.

“It clearly would be unprecedented,” Dr. Jerry Kruse said of the $8.8 million in state funding cuts outlined for the medical school by SIU officials. “The institution would look completely different.”

A majority of the cuts would affect the medical school’s Springfield campus, where 1,546 people are employed, he said, but precise details won't be worked out unless the cuts became unavoidable.

“We clearly hope we don’t have to go there and do this,” he told The State Journal-Register. “We’ve been doing a lot of things over the past few years to be very, very fiscally responsible.”

The 46-year-old medical school also has 143 employees in Carbondale, 41 in Decatur and 72 in Quincy.

The estimates for job cuts were generated by SIU officials this week for the main SIU campus in Carbondale, the SIU-Edwardsville campus and the medical school in response to Rauner’s proposed 20 percent reduction in state funding for higher education in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Kruse said SIU officials tried to plan for potential cuts that would preserve the medical school’s mission of preparing the next generation of doctors, conducting research into new cures and treatments for diseases, providing health care to central and southern Illinois and promoting healthy communities.

The medical school, which normally operates with a $180 million annual budget — $38 million of it from state tax dollars — hasn’t received any state funding for the current fiscal year.

The lack of state dollars prompted the school, with campuses in Springfield and Carbondale — to adopt $5 million in cuts last fall, to be accomplished mainly by delaying filling positions for employees who left.

Separate from those cuts, the school late last month shut down its “Think First” program, which educated youths about the dangers of impaired driving and other risks. The closure was related to the ongoing state budget impasse.

Caused by disagreements between the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and the Republican governor, the impasse also is jeopardizing a counseling and referral network operated by the medical school for downstate Illinois patients and families affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

'Hard to know'

Kruse, a member of SIU’s faculty for 30 years who became dean Jan. 1, said half of the potential job cuts at the medical school represent layoffs, with the other half involving positions that have been left unfilled. The positions targeted would include some faculty and staff positions and both union-represented and non-union jobs, he said.

Representatives of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents the biggest chunk of unionized SIU employees, didn’t return phone calls Thursday.

No physicians or other employees who provide direct patient care would be targeted for job cuts, Kruse said. SIU, through its physician practice, SIU HealthCare, employs almost 240 doctors — most of them in Springfield.

According to information provided by SIU, the cuts would affect administrative positions, academic units, graduate assistants, laboratory assistants and office workers. The cuts would consolidate some units and eliminate offices, according to SIU documents.

Kruse said health-care services could take a hit as a side effect.

“It’s really hard to know at the moment,” he said.

The cuts also could make it harder to attract top-notch veteran doctors, medical students and medical residents, he said.

SIU doctors practice at several hospitals, including Springfield’s Memorial Medical Center and HSHS St. John’s Hospital.

Ed Curtis, president and chief executive officer of Memorial Health System, which operates 500-bed Memorial Medical Center, said in a statement that he was aware of the potential cuts at SIU.

“SIU School of Medicine is a national treasure and very important to our community and Memorial Health System,” Curtis said. “We strongly urge our lawmakers to reach a funding agreement soon to protect this valuable resource.”

State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, said the proposed cuts for SIU are “a direct result of the governor vetoing appropriations bills passed by the legislature.” Those bills, he said, included an 8 percent funding cut for state universities.

Manar, whose district includes SIU’s Springfield campus, said the medical school is “an example of what’s right with the state today.” He said he fears that SIU’s ability to recruit doctors for rural Illinois hospitals will be impaired if the cuts take effect.

The General Assembly’s disagreements with the governor, Manar said, are focused on union-weakening provisions in Rauner’s “turnaround agenda.” The governor has said he wants at least some parts of the pro-business agenda enacted in exchange for cooperation on the budget and a potential tax increase.

Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in an email: “Decades of mismanagement meant the administration had to make some difficult choices, but Gov. Rauner laid out two paths to balance the budget. His preferred option is to work together with members of the General Assembly to pass structural reforms and a balanced budget ensuring priorities are funded.”

If the budget impasse lasts to the November general election, an additional $3 million in cuts might have to be made at the school, Kruse said. Included would be elimination of SIU’s MEDPREP program and the Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development, both in Carbondale, and almost $1.2 million in funding for basic science research.

There would be additional layoffs associated with those cuts, which Kruse called “dramatic and dire.”

MEDPREP, which began 44 years ago, offers a two-year program — highly regarded around the country — that helps prepare black, Hispanic and members of other underrepresented groups get into medical and dental schools nationwide. Almost 90 percent of MEDPREP grads go to medical schools other than SIU's.

“We are providing an incredible service for diversity for medical schools and dental schools for the United States of America,” Kruse said.

The frustration in his voice was apparent as he described how the proposed cuts would interfere with the school of medicine's ability to continue to be an “institution of excellence.”

Kruse noted that the school in 2015 received full accreditation for another eight years from the nation’s Liaison Committee on Medical Education — SIU’s second consecutive full accreditation with no citations.

“That’s the only time in the history of American medicine that that has ever happened,” he said. “This is the kind of institution that we are not wanting to whittle down to the bare bones of the core mission. We want to be a place of excellence that moves forward. That’s what the state of Illinois should want, too, frankly.”

— Contact Dean Olsen: dean.olsen@sj-r.com, 788-1543, twitter.com/DeanOlsenSJR.