The Academic Medical System: Reinvention to Survive the Revolution in Health Care

Academic medical centers (AMCs) are presently facing enormous challenges arising from a prospective decline in government funding for research and education, shifting payment models emphasizing efficiency and value, and increasing competition. Left unabated, these challenges will drive many AMCs to de-emphasize or forsake their core missions in an effort to survive. Stemming from a symposium held at the 2015 Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology titled, "The Academic Medical Center of the Future," we propose a series of changes, including internal restructuring, system-wide partnership, and novel approaches to support research and education, that are designed to better position AMCs to compete and face their growing challenges in a manner that preserves their essential missions. In aggregate, these changes will facilitate establishing the academic medical system of the future.