Impact on Health Care by a Metropolitan University Medical School

Abstract

The State University of New York at Buffalo medical school, in conjunction with its eight affiliated teaching institutions and local community leaders, has taken a leadership role in designing a regional approach to providing graduate medical education and tertiary health care. Strategies have evolved through two consortia, one designed to focus on graduate medical education programs, the other on improved cooperation in the delivery of patient services. From 1983 through 1991 the GME programs have been strengthened through the process, and the concept of a coordinated regional academic medical center has been formalized. The resulting changes should also have a salutary impact on economic development in western New York through reducing the costs associated with duplicating services and through developing programs designed to enlarge the region's patient base and research development.