The Future of the Academic Medical Center under Health Care Reform

Abstract

In times of fundamental social change, institutions face both mortal threats and unparalleled opportunities. Such is now the case with the unique class of health care organizations known as academic medical centers.For the purposes of this discussion, we take these organizations to consist of the roughly 120 to 380 institutions (depending on one's precise definition)1,2 that carry out the three missions of teaching, research, and patient care and do so in close affiliation with or as part of a degree-granting university. Imminent reforms in health care promise to accelerate trends that have made the discharge of the traditional . . .