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Gov. Brian Sandoval has called physicians, politicians and law enforcement officials to a summit meeting this week to address the national opioid epidemic’s impact on Nevada...The Prescription Drug Abuse Summit...at the MGM Grand will focus on issues that include oversight of pain management clinics, physicians’ drug prescription practices and alternatives to opioid medications..."Nevada has established policies that have become national models in prescription drug monitoring and ongoing coordination between the public and private sector. I am proud of what we have accomplished, but there is more work to be done," Sandoval said...Featured speakers at the summit will include U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin…

It’s been a vision of UNLV leaders for years: A widely supported medical school educating the region’s future doctors and bearing the university’s name..."We’re ahead of where we thought we would be," Atkinson said (Dr. Barbara Atkinson, dean of UNLV School of Medicine). "I never thought we’d be this far ahead at this point."...Exactly a year from its anticipated debut date of July 17, 2017, the medical school is moving forward...

ACCREDITATION - Atkinson said the (accreditation) committee is expected to consider the report as well as documents provided by UNLV and make a decision on the school’s preliminary accreditation request between Oct. 17 and 19...If the medical school is awarded preliminary accreditation, it can begin recruiting its first class of students and would become the first accredited M.D.-granting, or allopathic, program based in Southern Nevada.

A NEW BUILDING - UNLV has also commissioned a conceptual design and renderings for a permanent building across from Valley Hospital Medical Center in the Las Vegas Medical District, and those plans should be complete by September...University Medical Center CEO Mason VanHouweling said the placement of the UNLV school in the heart of the medical district will bring a new look and feel to the area...He added that UMC is excited to try to develop its own facilities to help shape the future of the area and looks forward to furthering its partnership with the UNLV school.

Parata Systems and Pharmacy Times  2016 Next-Generation Pharmacist® Awards Gala, which honor pharmacists, technicians, student pharmacists and industry advocates who are defining the future of the industry, will be on August 6, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Dr. Zachery Halford, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy...for Roseman University’s College of Pharmacy, was named one of the finalists in the Specialty Pharmacist category...

If things go as some people hope, northwest Las Vegas could be getting a Level III trauma center at MountainView Hospital...The plan has been under consideration for years but needed updated numbers to show demand...The possibility of MountainView getting approval is not assured. The Regional Trauma Advisory Board did not support its application when the hospital first formally explored the possibility in October...The biggest pushback that we’re getting in the current system is from the existing trauma centers, and many people publicly are concerned that this would have a detrimental effect on UMC...It’s important to remember that the Level III trauma centers take care of the more minor cases, and if it turns out to be something significant, they send the patient to the Level I or II centers. So, looking at the current system, and Siena being a Level III, 85 percent of the people they see either get discharged from the emergency center or get sent to a Level I or Level II facility. They see less than four patients a year who should have gone to a Level I or II center right off the bat. So, the impact is three or four patients a year...At current population levels, MountainView is expected to handle roughly two trauma cases a day, said Swenson, adding the area sees 500 to 600 trauma cases annually.

FirstMed Health and Wellness Center, a nonprofit providing discounted health care for low-income and underserved patients, opened its second clinic in Las Vegas…The clinic, located at 400 Shadow Lane, Suite 104, will offer preventative and primary care, behavioral health service and care for youth in crisis, including sexual abuse victims...Speakers at the opening included three prominent Nevada Democrats: Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Dina Titus, and former Attorney General and current U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto...The health center received federal funding through Reid’s work with the Health Resources and Service Administration…

A legislative audit of the state dental board revealed systemic issues with the board’s operations, including poor record keeping and questions about how the public’s complaints are investigated...The report, presented at the June 16 meeting of the Sunset Subcommittee of the Legislative Commission, highlighted the Nevada State Board of Dental Examiners’ lack of an independent committee to review outcomes of investigations into misconduct allegations...The review process complaint was just one of several issues investigated by the auditors, who also found the board lacked "an effective process for accurately determining the amount of investigative costs" to dental professionals under scrutiny.

A budding Southern Nevada medical school was dealt a blow Thursday as it learned a committee declined to grant the school’s request for preliminary accreditation, likely delaying the college’s opening...The medical school is part of the private, nonprofit Roseman University of Health Sciences...Roseman spokesman Jason Roth said it’s unclear how much of a delay the news could cause in the development of the medical college. The school is awaiting a letter from the accreditation committee outlining the reasons for the rejection...Institutions denied preliminary accreditation can choose to appeal, according to the LCME website (Liaison Committee on Medical Education). Rejected schools must wait a year before reapplying for accreditation...Roth called the news a temporary setback...

UNLV School of Medicine...says it will take over four Clark County school-based health facilities with plans for innovation...The medical school, which says it will assume control of the health centers run by the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, wants to focus on “prevention, primary care and behavioral health” at the facilities…UNLV previously announced plans to assume control of the Reno school’s Las Vegas-based residency programs and much of the Southern Nevada staff over the next year as the Northern Nevada institution changes it focus...The centers are targeted to reach students from low-income and underserved areas, operating half the day, once a week at each school during the standard Clark County School District year... the centers were based at West Prep Academy, Grant Sawyer Middle School, Kermit R. Booker Sr. Elementary School and Matt Kelly Elementary School...Tracey Green, UNLV School of Medicine vice dean for clinical affairs, said the medical school has multiple long-term goals for the facilities...

UNLV’s nascent medical school has a place to call home after clearing one final bureaucratic hurdle to claim a spot inside the Las Vegas Medical District...Clark County Commission...unanimously approved a plan giving the university a 9-acre site at 625 Shadow Lane, where it plans to build its new medical school. The panel also voted to let the school lease space from nearby University Medical Center while it raises money for its own building...Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said the project has been a "long time coming" and called the school’s development "a historical moment."...School officials expect to break ground for the new building in about three to four years..."This is going to have such an impact on generations to come," Commissioner Lawrence Weekly said. "Students (are) going to be able to not have to dream about being a doctor or nurse and go to school out of state — they’ll be able to stay at home."

In September, MountainView Hospital received accreditation for its Internal Medicine Residency program..."We are very excited to reach this important milestone in the development of MountainView Hospital’s Graduate Medical Education program," said Dr. Ali Rahimi, director of the Internal Medicine Residency program at the hospital...The hospital was also accredited to add General Surgery and Obstetrics/Gynecology to the residency program..."...it was really about the commitment to primary care," said Chris Mowan, MountainView CEO. "... We were looking for a majority to...stay in Nevada...and practice primary care. Our goal was to find people who were passionate about primary care. Because that’s what we need; that’s our greatest shortage."