Texas Tech is one of a handful of universities trying to encourage students to choose family medicine, in part by reducing the cost of medical school with an accelerated three-year program that allows primary care physicians to graduate a year early.

The first class from the Texas Tech family medicine program will graduate in 2013. Since they know what field they will go into, students in the program can skip medical school’s fourth year. “Much of the fourth year of medical school is elective,” Dr. Berk said. Without the need for such rotations, students have all the training they need to be primary care physicians after three years.

Students at Texas Tech say that the mind-set around primary care at their university is much more positive than the national trend.

“If anyone has a negative perception, its something they brought with them, or during their time here picked them up from outside of school,” said Clay Buchanan, a student in the program.