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Can anyone here gimme the skinny on G'town's financial status? I've heard from a lot of people that they have some "financial issues" so to speak. Can anyone elaborate?
Georgetown's Financial Status?
- Thread starter Papa Smurf
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I'm also curious...I had heard something about them losing a bunch of money because of their hospital - not sure if this is the reason though.
I inquired about it during my interview to Dr. Mitchell and he told me that they had recently merged with a managment corp. that was taking over the hospitals and that things were going better than expected. Any more than this I don't know...but would certainly like to.
I inquired about it during my interview to Dr. Mitchell and he told me that they had recently merged with a managment corp. that was taking over the hospitals and that things were going better than expected. Any more than this I don't know...but would certainly like to.
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on my interview day, they had someone speak to us about rumors we've heard about g'town. I brought up the rumor of financial troubles which the person said were false. Basically, he said that when Clinton was attempting to restructure health care in this country, G'town hospitals served as the experimental subject. When the restructuring failed miserably, G'town was left to cope with the resulting financial woes, some of which they are still dealing with today. I think the financial rumors we hear have more to do directly with the hospital and less to do with the school itself. I don't know if this helps (this is the short version). Post your questions and I might be able to answer them 😀
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G'town is one a few schools I'm waiting to hear back from post-interview. Just wanted to make sure that they're not an MCP waiting to happen, that's all. As long as they're solvent, that's cool with me. They're not my top choice, but I definitely wouldn't mind going there.
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I didn't apply to Georgetown, so I'm no expert.... But, a physician/friend of mine graduated from Georgetown and was adamant about telling me NOT to apply to Georgetown. While their financial woes are related to their hospital, it is really the hospital that attracts/pays the medical school faculty. So, my friend tells me that because of the financial troubles and the new "management company" a significant number of G'town's best faculty have left and gone elsewhere.
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Thanks for the info Wahoo and everyone else. Mrs. Sullivan forgot to pass on this interesting piece of advice. 🙄 I'll take it under advisement if I have to make a decision.
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I applied to GT and was invited to interview, but declined due to the advice of many physicians and professors. I do not know the details, but I was cautioned by many to avoid GT due to financial instability. Some of these people were even my interviewers at other schools offering some "honest" advice. They did not state specifics, but seemed to be genuinely interested in my well-being. That's what I've heard--take it or leave it... I took it.
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Georgetown had some serious, very serious, financial problems. They were completely unable to run their hospital profitably and thus ended up having to sell it and their debt. So even though the university owns the land, a corporation both owns and manages the on-campus hospital. I believe this alleviated most of the financial issues.
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Does anyone know if the med students have an out if the hospital becomes insolvent? This seems pretty serious.
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Yeah, that's what I was referring to by an "out." Like here in Florida, FSU students have an out if their school doesn't get LCME accredidation for their clinical years when their inaugural class graduates. What happens to the students at G'town if the hospital can't pay its debts? I'd assume there'd be a mass exodus of faculty so not only would third and fourth years be immediately affected, but so would 1st and 2nd years. Anyone know? Oh, and I heard Stanford was in pretty bad shape as well. There was an article about them, I'll try to dig it up.
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oooh yea, someone tell me about stanford. i never heard about their financial woes...
as for georgetown, i highly doubt the med school will go under. it sounds like they have the hospital under control now and things are looking up. i wouldn't not go to georgetown because of that.
as for georgetown, i highly doubt the med school will go under. it sounds like they have the hospital under control now and things are looking up. i wouldn't not go to georgetown because of that.
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OK...here's the result of all my research:
After Clinton's incorporation of managed care many hospitals started losing money - especially teaching hospitals. Of the approx. 125 medical schools, over 50 of them had to sell their hospitals to private no profit organizations or HMO type companies. These schools include, but are not limited to, Tulane, Penn, San Diego, GW, and Georgetown. Currently, both UCSF and Stanford are going under with their hospitals and have recently merged together in ownership of their hospitals - they're still losing money.
The reason G-town is cited as a prime example is because they not only let theirs get out of hand (250mill) but also breached tenure contracts with a majority of their professors by instituting a new law that stated a prof. had to bring in 50% of their income in research grants or they wouldn't be eligible for renewal of their contracts the following year. To top things off, after they sold their hospital to MedStar, the company laid off a number of tenured faculty and replaced them with clinicians of their own. G-towns debt is currently around 37mill and is on course to eliminate it. However, the school still faces a 15mill debt/year in research areas that it is trying to overcome.
Because of the breach of tenure contracts many faculty either left because they felt that the school lost sight of its original purpose (teaching) or went off to places where they felt free to pursue their research interests no matter the income it brought in. Also, many faculty have just up and left. I read one article that stated in 2000 G-town was ranked second in the nation's hospitals for cardiothoracic surgery survival rates and now ranks low on the list because their main physician (death rate less than 1%) was replaced by another physician with a higher death rate (4%, I think).
To top things off, the new President of the University, John J. DeGioia, recently appointed Dr. Sam Wiesel to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of the Medical Center and Dean of Clinical Affairs. He did this despite resounding faculty disapproval (170 to 0 vote against him) simply because Dr. Wiesel has connections with MedStar and the President thought this would best further the recent merger. Dr. Wiesel is currently being paid my MedStar and is making important decisions for the medical school which many feel is a conflict of interest.
In the end, it seems as if G-town has or is on it's way to securing the financial problems...but the problem with faculty leaving and now having a Dean that they aren't confident in is apparently creating a great deal of strife within the school of medicine.
As a student who is currently accepted to G-town I am, of course, interested in what the long term outcomes of this will be, and I have to take all of this into consideration when deciding which school to attend. However, we also need to take into perspective what we're talking about here. Georgetown is a ranked school that many feel get a unfair shake at USNews. Residency directors rank the school highly and, after all, it IS still Georgetown. If it falls from the ranks because of things like this, we need to realize that it is falling from the around the top. It's going to remain a great institution...and perhaps even come out stronger. Most of us would be fortunate and lucky to attend a school like G-town...after all, most of us are ending up at schools that don't even spark recognition or can't reach the (disputable) ranks of US News. Hope this helps.
After Clinton's incorporation of managed care many hospitals started losing money - especially teaching hospitals. Of the approx. 125 medical schools, over 50 of them had to sell their hospitals to private no profit organizations or HMO type companies. These schools include, but are not limited to, Tulane, Penn, San Diego, GW, and Georgetown. Currently, both UCSF and Stanford are going under with their hospitals and have recently merged together in ownership of their hospitals - they're still losing money.
The reason G-town is cited as a prime example is because they not only let theirs get out of hand (250mill) but also breached tenure contracts with a majority of their professors by instituting a new law that stated a prof. had to bring in 50% of their income in research grants or they wouldn't be eligible for renewal of their contracts the following year. To top things off, after they sold their hospital to MedStar, the company laid off a number of tenured faculty and replaced them with clinicians of their own. G-towns debt is currently around 37mill and is on course to eliminate it. However, the school still faces a 15mill debt/year in research areas that it is trying to overcome.
Because of the breach of tenure contracts many faculty either left because they felt that the school lost sight of its original purpose (teaching) or went off to places where they felt free to pursue their research interests no matter the income it brought in. Also, many faculty have just up and left. I read one article that stated in 2000 G-town was ranked second in the nation's hospitals for cardiothoracic surgery survival rates and now ranks low on the list because their main physician (death rate less than 1%) was replaced by another physician with a higher death rate (4%, I think).
To top things off, the new President of the University, John J. DeGioia, recently appointed Dr. Sam Wiesel to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of the Medical Center and Dean of Clinical Affairs. He did this despite resounding faculty disapproval (170 to 0 vote against him) simply because Dr. Wiesel has connections with MedStar and the President thought this would best further the recent merger. Dr. Wiesel is currently being paid my MedStar and is making important decisions for the medical school which many feel is a conflict of interest.
In the end, it seems as if G-town has or is on it's way to securing the financial problems...but the problem with faculty leaving and now having a Dean that they aren't confident in is apparently creating a great deal of strife within the school of medicine.
As a student who is currently accepted to G-town I am, of course, interested in what the long term outcomes of this will be, and I have to take all of this into consideration when deciding which school to attend. However, we also need to take into perspective what we're talking about here. Georgetown is a ranked school that many feel get a unfair shake at USNews. Residency directors rank the school highly and, after all, it IS still Georgetown. If it falls from the ranks because of things like this, we need to realize that it is falling from the around the top. It's going to remain a great institution...and perhaps even come out stronger. Most of us would be fortunate and lucky to attend a school like G-town...after all, most of us are ending up at schools that don't even spark recognition or can't reach the (disputable) ranks of US News. Hope this helps.
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Oh yeah...the merger with MedStar included a large sum of money to pay off the debt G-town had. It also claims MedStar and the sole financial responsibility of the hospital - they incur 100% of the losses of the hospital so G-town no longer has to worry about hospital debt. MedStar is currently expanding hospital facilities and size, and has a GREAT financial record with the 7 hospitals it owns. I think that last year alone the company brought in over 1 billion dollars. New plans in the works include students getting to do rotations at the other MedStar hospitals (all are in the MD, Virginia, DC area). G-town still maintains ownership of the research and teaching facilities.
Also, the last president of the school started a "3 Century" Fundraising Campaign that in the past few years has brough 3/4 of a BILLION dollars into the school (one of the largest fundraising campaigns any institution has ever initiated) and it was slated to end this year but was extended through 2003 with the mark of reaching 1 Billion. Of course, this is university money, not all medical school. But it seems as if G-towns financial problems are being quickly eliminated and are not much to worry about any more.
Also, the last president of the school started a "3 Century" Fundraising Campaign that in the past few years has brough 3/4 of a BILLION dollars into the school (one of the largest fundraising campaigns any institution has ever initiated) and it was slated to end this year but was extended through 2003 with the mark of reaching 1 Billion. Of course, this is university money, not all medical school. But it seems as if G-towns financial problems are being quickly eliminated and are not much to worry about any more.
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Sorry, one more post. I forgot to include Harvard as a school now considering selling its hospital because of financial problems. Recently reported in the Harvard news was that they have eliminated MANY of their great programs to cut debt and are still incurring problems. The only opinion of the situation given in the article was something along the lines of..."How can WE, at Harvard, even consider following the ranks of other, lesser schools by selling our prided hospital?" If history and current mainstay is any indication, Harvard won't be the only one following suit.
