The challenge for academic health partnerships

The future of academic medicine in Australia has been identified as a significant issue, but received little mention in the interim report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. Australia is at particular risk of failing to capitalise on what is happening globally with academic medicine. New "partnerships" between health services, universities and health research institutes should be encouraged for stimulating research and learning across the health sector. Such partnerships can drive translational research, provide full costing of research, and establish national and international networks of researchers and research funding. There are many interactions between Australian state and federal jurisdictions and their hospitals and primary care organisations, but these are often loosely coordinated and with little understanding of how universities and research institutes can help to deliver better and more efficient health care. Academic health science centres, as recently designated by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, provide a useful model for consideration in Australia.