The changing relationships between academic health centers and their universities: a look at the University of Pennsylvania.

Full Abstract

After a period of financial losses in the University of Pennsylvania Health System stemming from a combination of internal decision making and negative external market forces, the university set out to make substantial changes in the governance and administrative organization overseeing its health system and medical school. The changes were designed to assure the university and its trustees that financial controls were strengthened and that the missions of research, education, and patient care were balanced. The governance changes included creating a structure whereby a single administrative leader was responsible for all three missions--education, research, and clinical care--and reported directly to the president of the university. Further, existing governing boards responsible for various entities within the school of medicine and health system were disbanded, and a new single board was created to oversee PENN Medicine, the overarching organization established in 2001 and now responsible for oversight of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The realignment initiated by these major changes spawned additional refinements in leadership responsibilities and process controls that, together with the new governance model, are credited with financial recovery and stronger performance in all aspects of the enterprise. These structural changes led to greater emphasis on integrating and coordinating programs to take advantage of PENN Medicine's home in a leading university.

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Author information

Author/s: Phillips, Susan E (SE); Rubenstein, Arthur H (AH);

Affiliation: PENN Medicine, and University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges (Acad Med), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Sep; vol 83 (issue 9) : pp 861-6

Dates: Created 2008/08/27; Completed 2008/09/24;

PMID: 18728443, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Academic Medical Centers - organization & administration
Humans
Interinstitutional Relations

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