Review of US medical school finances, 1998-1999

Based on data from the Annual Medical School Questionnaire of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, to which 100% of the 125 accredited allopathic US medical schools responded, we found that revenue supporting programs and activities of the 125 accredited medical schools in the United States totaled $39,761 million in 1998-1999. Three sources accounted for 79.3% of total revenues: practice plans ($13,724 million; 34.5%), grants and contracts ($11, 982 million; 30.1%), and hospital support ($5814 million; 14.6%). In the aggregate, total revenues increased by 7.4% between 1997-1998 and 1998-1999, a consequence at least in part due to a 2.9% increase in the number of full-time faculty. The largest increase in dollar amount came from grants and contracts ($1101 million; 10.2% increase). Revenue increases were not evenly distributed across the schools. Increases of 10% or more in key revenue sources-practice plans and hospital support-were reported by approximately one fourth of all schools. Another one fourth reported decreases in these same sources. JAMA. 2000;284:1127-1129