The Future of Academic Health Centers

In this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, there is a very illuminating editorial entitled “Transforming Academic Health Centers for an Uncertain Future.”  You can read that article by clicking on the link below.  Following the NEJM editorial, I included two newspaper clippings detailing the financial woes of two of our competing academic health centers (AHCs), Vanderbilt and Wake Forest Medical Centers.  You heard this morning at our Graduate Medical Education Committee meeting about exciting future plans for our AHC.  I have heard some of us complain about the financial management of our AHC, and I am sure there are instances where individual or departmental initiatives were not funded.  However, I think we can be proud of our leaders and how they have managed our resources.  We are NOT cutting jobs and programs.  We are growing!  Continuing to grow will require all of our efforts and a willingness to think out of the box, particularly in the area of Graduate Medical Education.  The editorial suggests some ways that we can save money as we train the physicians of the future. 

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this information.

Sincerely,

Michael E. Mahla, MD

Transforming Academic Health Centers for an Uncertain Future