Report Shows Pennsylvania Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals are Major Economic Engines

A new report from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reveals that academic medical centers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania continue to play a significant role in the state’s economy. The report found that Pennsylvania ranks second in the nation when calculating the total economic impact of its academic health centers. Specifically, the study found that medical schools and teaching hospitals in Pennsylvania accounted for more than $35.6 billion in revenues and more than $1.5 billion in taxes for the state in 2005. They also accounted for more than 200,000 full-time jobs in 2005.

The report, entitled “The Economic Impact of AAMC-Member Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals” measures the financial contributions of the AAMC’s member institutions in the regions in which they are located and the nation as a whole. The AAMC represents 125 accredited U.S. medical schools and more than 400 major teaching hospitals.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) are among the six Pennsylvania AAMC-member institutions included in the report. Figures were not broken out by individual health care centers in the report.

Arthur S. Levine, M.D., senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said the AAMC report demonstrates the vital role that the medical school plays not only in the economy of the city of Pittsburgh but western Pennsylvania as well.

“As the only academic medical center in western Pennsylvania, we take very seriously our role not only in improving health care for people living in the area but in generating high-paying, secure and satisfying jobs. Although we take great pride in our accomplishments to date, it does not mean we can rest on our laurels. We are always looking for new opportunities and areas where we can improve,” he emphasized.

Overall, the study reports that the U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals represented by the AAMC had a combined economic impact of more than $451 billion and were responsible for more than three million full-time jobs nationwide during 2005. The Keystone State, trailing only New York in the report’s rankings, is followed by California, Massachusetts and Texas in the top five.

Other AAMC-member institutions in Pennsylvania include Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa; Philadelphia-based Drexel University College of Medicine; Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University; University of Pennsylvania Health System and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; and Temple University School of Medicine and Temple University Hospital. To read the report, go to www.aamc.org and click on “Publications.”

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is considered among the nation’s leading medical schools, renowned for its curriculum that emphasizes both the science and humanity of medicine and its remarkable growth in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant support, which has more than doubled since 1998. For fiscal year 2005, the University ranked seventh, out of more than 3,000 entities receiving NIH support, with respect to the research grants awarded to its faculty. The majority of these grants were awarded to the faculty of the medical school. As one of the university’s six Schools of the Health Sciences, the School of Medicine is the academic partner to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Their combined mission is to train tomorrow’s health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and participate in the delivery of outstanding patient care.