Measuring the costs of primary care education in the ambulatory setting

In 1995, the authors obtained cost, operations, and educational activity data from 98 ambulatory care sites across the United States in which primary care teaching was occurring and compared those data with the corresponding data from 84 ambulatory care sites where no teaching was going on. The teaching sites in the sample were found to have 24-36% higher operating costs than the non-teaching sites. This overall difference in costs is approximately the same difference in costs earlier estimated for university teaching hospitals compared with non-teaching hospitals. These costs are shared by all involved in the ambulatory education process: sponsors, sites, and faculty. In a related finding, the authors discovered that 30-50% of all ambulatory care sites thought not to be involved in education are in fact teaching at a high level of involvement. Further research into not only the costs but the value of education in the clinical setting is encouraged. The authors also hope that the publication of this report will encourage accrediting bodies and professional organizations to improve the information available about ambulatory care training in general.