The AMA has provided technical assistance to schools planning expansion. And State societies have sometimes advocated the formation of new medical schools. as in Maine and New Jersey. or supported the conversion of 2year "basic science" schools into full 4year schools. as in North Carolina and West Virginia. The resulting increase in physician supply has raised the American doctor/patient ratio to 1386 per 100.000. second only to Israel with its large number of refugee Jewish physicians. This ratio is expected to hold despite rapid population gains. But the AMA has not consistently pursued a policy of increasing the doctor supply.