CBJ BALANCE Summer 2017

COLUMN
Academic medical centers vital to health and economy
As the national debate about health
care continues, it is important to
understand the vital role of academic
medical centers, like University
of Iowa Health Care, in the
national and local health system
and economy.
Academic medical centers
(AMCs) bear the responsibility
not only for providing all levels of
patient care, but also for educating
and training the nation’s doctors
and associated health care providers,
and conducting biomedical research
that leads to new treatments
and cures to share with the world.
Beyond those missions, AMCs also
provide important services through
community benefit services.
UI Health Care, which includes
Jean E. Robillard, M.D.
UI Health Care
Vice President for Medical Affairs
and surgeries to basic primary
care. Like other AMCs, UI Health
Care provides critical community
services – such as trauma and burn
centers – that are often not available
elsewhere. UI Health Care
also provides health care to Iowa’s
vulnerable populations through
charity care and state and federal
health programs.
The impact of UI Health Care’s
education mission is also significant
to Iowa’s physician workforce,
with the UI Carver College of
Medicine graduating 140 new physicians
every year, and more than
700 resident and fellow physicians
in training at UI Hospitals and
Clinics. Our data show that Carver
College of Medicine students who
of more than $231 million and
644,381 persons receiving services,
including free medical care for uninsured
patients, health screenings
and other preventive care, public
seminars on health topics and population-based
research.
In addition to societal benefits,
AMCs have a substantial positive
economic impact. The most recent
report (2012) by the Association
of American Medical Colleges
(AAMC), conducted by Tripp Umbach
of Pittsburgh, showed that UI
Health Care had a total employment
impact of 32,598 people, supported
more than $277 million in revenue
for the state, and provided a total
economic impact of $4.6 billion.
Looking to the future, there
are several key issues confronting
academic medicine, including the
availability of affordable, accessible
insurance; status of scientific research
funding; viability of learning
and teaching methodologies; and
caring for the well-being of the
health workforce and an increasingly
diverse nation.
To ensure that we preserve the
strengths of the nation’s AMCs and
their role in improving the health
of all Americans, it is incumbent
on those of us working in academic
medicine and our policy makers
at both state and federal level to
carefully evaluate these issues and
design solutions for these pressing
issues. •
UI Health Care had a total employment impact of 32,598
people, supported more than $277 million in revenue for the
state, and provided a total economic impact of $4.6 billion.
University of Iowa Hospitals and
Clinics, the UI Carver College of
Medicine and the University of
Iowa Physicians, is the only comprehensive
AMC in Iowa, and one
of about 125 in the United States.
As a major employer in the Corridor,
we contribute to the growth
of the local economy, while also
working to improve the health and
well-being of all area residents.
This has included extending our
patient care mission to businesses
through the Work-Related Care
Management program which
provides several services to assist
employers with solutions for improving
the health and wellness of
all team members
Through UI Hospitals and Clinics,
patient care ranges from highly
specialized, complex treatments
do residency training in Iowa are
nearly four times more likely to
enter practice in Iowa than those
training outside the state.
As the research engines of the
American health system, AMCs
conduct more than half of all
extramural research sponsored by
the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). In fiscal year 2016, the UI
Carver College of Medicine garnered
more than $229 million in
external funding, including 254
grants totaling more than $105
million from the NIH.
Like other AMCs, UI Health
Care faculty and staff members go
beyond these mission-driven activities
to provide community benefit
programs or activities that promote
health and wellness. In fiscal year
2015, we recorded a contribution
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CBJ BALANCE - FALL 2017 17