DUBUQUE, Iowa — AUBURN, Iowa (AP) Auburn University has announced the creation of an internal medicine group to help with research and clinical care.

The move is a big one for a university that is in the midst of a crisis with an increasing number of patients seeking care outside of the school’s internal medicine department.

University President David Baskin says he expects it to be a positive thing.

He says it will help to reduce the volume of referrals and patients being treated outside the department.

Baskin is a former medical director at Baylor University who ran the school until recently.