Harvard Medical School will receive $36 million in support from its partner hospitals. According to a Boston Globe article, the medical school relies primarily on research and endowment funds to support its operations. With a decline in investments and increased debt obligation, it is facing a shortfall.
In the scope of the school’s $580 million budget, the contributions will not drastically change the financial situation, but it does represent a shift in the historically loose relationship between the medical school and its teaching hospitals.
It’s also significant that one of the concessions the hospitals asked from the medical school was a quicker appointments and promotion process for the physician faculty. Again, faculty development plays a crucial role in the health of an academic medical center.