Financially sustaining the academic enterprise
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Report (Blue Ridge Academic Health Group)
- Contributor(s):
- Blue Ridge Academic Health Group, issuing body. Emory University, issuing body. Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Atlanta, GA : Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory University, 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Academic Medical Centers -- economics Research -- economics United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Academic Health Centers (AHCs) are the back bone of health and health care innovation in the United States (US), in addition to their fundamental mission of educating the next generation of clinicians and researchers. Many of the critical advances in medicine have originated in AHCs, including discoveries that led to mRNA vaccines, radiation therapy, statins, human organ transplant surgery, drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, and cardiac defibrillators. These monumental innovations and discoveries require substantial and sustained research and innovation, core differentiating components of AHCs that embody the passion and mission of academic institutions. However, the AHC research enterprise always requires financial support from other sources, even when faculty investigators receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), private funding from corporations, and philanthropy. This funding gap necessitates investment of clinical margin into the academic enterprise to cover the financial shortfall, and today that support is estimated at more than $20 billion annually. Adding education further escalates the amount. To produce this margin--and to have enough left over to reinvest in the clinical enterprise itself--the AHC clinical enterprise must yield exceptional financial productivity, since government reimbursement (Medicare, Medicaid) usually falls short of cost. Fortunately, investing clinical margin in the academic enterprise yields returns for both: (1) By supporting primary research activities, growth in external grant and contract funding as well as downstream philanthropy and technology transfer are catalyzed. (2) Investments in research improve the stature and visibility of AHCs as the providers of the most advanced and innovative health care, which attracts clinicians of national stature and helps grow physician referrals. Investments in human subjects research programs (clinical trials) also help attract patients to AHCs. (3) Increased patient volume drives growth in clinical revenue, which can then be reinvested into research and/or education. (4) This harmonious cycle—referred to as the “virtuous circle” of academic medicine (Figure 1)--results in AHCs in most communities being viewed as the preferred provider for complex care, the locus of innovation and “bleeding edge” medicine for the world, and the classroom for the next generation of physicians, scientists, and other health professionals.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (13 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918418181506676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918418181506676