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Have any of you read the US News & World Report's article with the Med School rankings? (April 10th issue)
One statement: "Robert McDonald ... believes that as many as a fourth of the country's academic medical centers will merge or declare bankruptcy within the next five years." Part of the problem seems to be a battle between teaching (which produces no income) and "high-profile research" (which can attract higher paying grants).
The article (by Avery Comarow) says the problem is "a consequence of giant changes in the U.S. health care system. As managed-care plans have aggressively negotiated reimbursement levels downward and favored outpatient treatment, hospitals have watched their profits erode. And teaching hospitals were hard hit by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which slashed Medicare reimbursements and lowered payments from the government for physician training."
Pre-med students who apply to and are accepted by schools which don't allocate their available funds wisely, or which have other priorities besides staying current with educational technology, may find unexpected problems with their medical training. When the foundation underwriting a med school goes bankrupt, the school will either close or be taken over by new management. When that happened at Hahnemann, both faculty and patients lost confidence and went somewhere else.
When a teaching hospital closes, clinical rotations may have to be covered at remaining nearby hospitals, increasing the number of med students per patient. Larger classes = less hands-on training experience. Residents may be out of a job (i.e., their training program).
Even rating doesn't always matter. The article mentioned that the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital was a "renowned teaching hospital" that announced it was closing. So by the time the court insisted they stay open (!!!), the residents had already had to find other programs elsewhere.
Anyone concerned about this?
Nancy
originally posted at:
[email protected]
One statement: "Robert McDonald ... believes that as many as a fourth of the country's academic medical centers will merge or declare bankruptcy within the next five years." Part of the problem seems to be a battle between teaching (which produces no income) and "high-profile research" (which can attract higher paying grants).
The article (by Avery Comarow) says the problem is "a consequence of giant changes in the U.S. health care system. As managed-care plans have aggressively negotiated reimbursement levels downward and favored outpatient treatment, hospitals have watched their profits erode. And teaching hospitals were hard hit by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which slashed Medicare reimbursements and lowered payments from the government for physician training."
Pre-med students who apply to and are accepted by schools which don't allocate their available funds wisely, or which have other priorities besides staying current with educational technology, may find unexpected problems with their medical training. When the foundation underwriting a med school goes bankrupt, the school will either close or be taken over by new management. When that happened at Hahnemann, both faculty and patients lost confidence and went somewhere else.
When a teaching hospital closes, clinical rotations may have to be covered at remaining nearby hospitals, increasing the number of med students per patient. Larger classes = less hands-on training experience. Residents may be out of a job (i.e., their training program).
Even rating doesn't always matter. The article mentioned that the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital was a "renowned teaching hospital" that announced it was closing. So by the time the court insisted they stay open (!!!), the residents had already had to find other programs elsewhere.
Anyone concerned about this?
Nancy
originally posted at:
[email protected]
