Academic medicine under managed care.
Academic gastroenterology is at a crossroads. If academic gastroenterologists are to survive and thrive in this era of managed care, they must develop innovative means of funding teaching and research. This funding can be accomplished while adapting to and embracing managed care. Academic gastroenterologists need to work closely with managed care in developing novel means of training fellows and focusing research on outcomes (both clinical and economic). At the same time, academic gastroenterologists have to compete in the marketplace for patient care revenue as a funding source. This competition requires a concerted effort to improve efficiency in academic practice and is likely to result in less time devoted exclusively to research and teaching. Increased clinical practice can also result in enhanced clinical research opportunities, however, as well as an ability to expand teaching in an ambulatory setting. It is clear that managed care will not adapt to academic gastroenterologists. If academic gastroenterologists are to maintain their preeminence in medical education and research, they must adapt to a managed care world.
Fennerty
M B
MB
Department of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, USA.
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D005762:Gastroenterology / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States