|
Northwestern University (NU) and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (ENH) mutually agreed to terminate their affiliation to pursue distinct visions and goals. The decision to disaffiliate is the result of several years of negotiations involving medical school and University leadership, clinical department chairs, and selected members of the NU Board, as well as representatives of ENH leadership and its Board.
As reflected in departmental annual reports and external reviews, the relationship between our two organizations has been challenging for many years. The frequently cited issue of financial support to the medical school was influential; however, it was not the most important issue. More substantial were fundamentally different ideas about our vision for advancing our academic enterprise, the role of academic leadership in assuring the quality of education and research at ENH, processes for faculty and leadership appointments, and concerns about the relative roles of the clinical affiliates of the medical school. Despite many reasons to continue the affiliation with ENH, we cannot afford to compromise our academic vision and missions, expectations for faculty roles, and the processes that all great universities employ to select their faculty and leaders. In essence, the level of autonomy demanded by ENH was incompatible with an academic culture of collaboration, partnership, peer-review, and accountability. Northwestern University and our medical school remain steadfast and firmly committed to building a great academic medical center in concert with our clinical partners, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, Children’s Memorial Hospital, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center. We look forward to the future opportunities afforded by the robust planning, renewed alignment, and bold aspirations of these medical school partners.
ENH has been affiliated with FSM since 1950.
ENH has said that it will stop using the Northwestern name within the next year. Absent the affiliation, there is no reason for them to continue using the name.
Financial support to the medical school was an important component of the negotiations, particularly in view of decades of substantial support of our enterprise by full-time faculty based at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. However, financial support was not the most important issue. Throughout the negotiations, it was stated that the affiliation should not fall apart over money. The financial issues could have been resolved if more fundamental philosophical issues were agreed upon.
Formal disaffiliation will occur no later than June 20, 2009. However, individual activities may end sooner or later than this date. Decisions on individual activities will be made on a program by program basis in the coming months. Our first priority in this process will be maintaining an excellent teaching environment for residents and students.
FSM currently has affiliation agreements with Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, Children’s Memorial Hospital, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In addition, FSM has agreements with other institutions to provide clinical sites for medical student and/or resident instruction.
FSM will continue to focus its efforts on creating a great academic medical center by strengthening its relationships with these affiliates. At this time there are no definite plans for additional affiliations, though we are always open to exploring new opportunities that allow us to enhance the educational experience of our students and trainees.
The most substantive impact on both institutions will be the lost opportunity to collaborate on future endeavors. The financial flows are complicated but are generally linked to specific services or activities. Over the next year, we will be working to unravel financial relationships in teaching and research.
ENH is not required to have an academic affiliation to continue to operate its clinical or research programs. In order to continue training residents, they must either affiliate with a program accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education or they must apply for and be granted permission to operate residency programs as an independent teaching hospital.
Faculty can contact their department chairs.
Residents and fellows can contact their program director or Sharon Dooley (sdo678@northwestern.edu or 503-7975), the senior associate dean for graduate medical education at the Feinberg School.
Medical students can contact Jay Thomas (jxt@northwestern.edu), senior associate dean for medical education.
General questions can be emailed to vpdean@northwestern.edu.
return to top | |
In general, full time faculty appointments will end when the affiliation agreement ends. Contributed services faculty appointments will end when their term expires. However, faculty circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis, considering the interest and ability of the faculty member to continue on the faculty and their ability to contribute to the academic mission of FSM.
There are 360 full-time faculty based at ENH, 28 part-time faculty and 368 contributed services faculty.
Individuals who are no longer faculty are not eligible to receive University benefits. Per the Tuition Plan Document, “Participation in the Plan requires continued employment and eligibility and is subject to the terms and conditions of the Plan Document.” Additional information is available in the Tuition Plan Document on the University’s website at http://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/plans/tuition/pdf/spd-tuition.pdf
Faculty should contact their department chair with any questions.
return to top |
Residency programs at ENH are governed by the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, which will work with ENH and FSM to ensure that all residents will be able to complete their training. Decisions about training location and the future status of programs will be made on a program by program basis. Some programs may shift rotations from Evanston before the end of the affiliation agreement while others may make arrangements to continue resident rotations at ENH beyond the termination of the affiliation agreement. Your program director will be able to provide you with more information as it becomes available.
There are currently 103 residents in four residency programs that are based solely at ENH (medicine, pathology, family medicine, and transitional). ENH funds an additional 80 positions for residents and fellows rotating for portions of their training from 12 other NMH-, Children’s-, and RIC-based programs. There are a total of 488 residents and fellows in those programs, averaging about two months per year at ENH. With just over 1100 total residents and fellows in Northwestern McGaw overall, this means that about half (488 + 80) receive a portion or all of their training at ENH.
The McGaw Medical Center, ENH, and the Feinberg School of Medicine will collaborate fully during and after the period of transition. According to the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements, the current institutional sponsor of our residency programs, the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, must consent to any changes in program sponsorship, and the appropriate ACGME Residency Review Committee (RRC) must be consulted about any significant changes in a training program.
The ACGME requires each institutional sponsor (in this case McGaw) to ensure that residents have the opportunity to complete their training program, or transfer to another ACGME-accredited program, in the event of a change in institutional affiliations. Likewise, the documents that govern the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, of which ENH is a member, require the hospital to adhere to this ACGME requirement. The McGaw Medical Center will ensure that every trainee in a program that remains under McGaw sponsorship will not suffer any interruption in training.
The programs based solely at ENH (medicine/preliminary medicine, pathology, family medicine, and transitional) will most likely remain McGaw programs until the overall NU – ENH affiliation ends. At that point, they could become programs sponsored by Evanston Hospital or another medical school, subject to approval by the regulatory authority (ACGME). McGaw will be asked by ACGME to consent to any change in sponsorship.
Residents and fellows can contact their program director with any questions they may have. They may also contact Sharon Dooley (sdo678@northwestern.edu or 503-7975), the senior associate dean for graduate medical education at the Feinberg School, as well as vice president and ACGME Designated Institutional Official for the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. She is our designated liaison with ACGME.
return to top |
During the transition ENH rotations will be reduced and eventually eliminated. FSM will work with individual students and faculty to ensure that all students are able to complete their training in an appropriate educational environment.
About 20 percent of the third-year medical students are in rotations at ENH at any given time. There are 170 students in each medical school class.
ENH and the NU faculty based there have made substantial contributions to the educational programs at FSM for generations. That said, the school has unused teaching capacity in some departments and we are interested in exploring new educational opportunities, including experiences that are more diverse than those currently available at ENH or our other existing affiliates. All of these and other approaches are being evaluated.
In a word, no. For the time being, NU and ENH remain affiliated, and this will be the case until the agreed upon expiration of the affiliation. Until that time, the teaching attending staff at ENH are still Northwestern faculty and are fully committed to our educational programs.
We will no longer utilize Evanston and Glenbrook hospitals, or their affiliated practices, as teaching sites. There may be limited opportunity for individuals with teaching relationships outside the hospital-based environment to continue as Northwestern faculty.
The course and clerkship directors, education deans, and other institutional leaders have already been engaged in planning and will have appropriate alternative options for clinical rotations when the affiliation ends.
We will approach these and other individual student-faculty collaborations on a case-by-case basis. If it is not possible to continue working with this research supervisor as an extramural mentor, we will assist you in the transition to another laboratory.
Yes. It will be possible to do elective rotations at ENH as with any other clinical site that is not affiliated with NU.
The point person for your questions is Dean Thomas (jxt@northwestern.edu), but as always the entire group of education deans (Deans Curry, Thomas, Green, and Franklin) are available to you at any time.
return to top |
These alumni are graduates of Northwestern and that will not change even if ENH decides to affiliate with another medical school.
Alumni may contact Ginny Darakjian, (v-darakjian@northwestern.edu), assistant dean for alumni relations, with any questions they may have.
return to top |
No, there should be no change in the coordination of care between physicians at ENH and NMH.
The affiliation agreement between FSM and ENH does not involve third party insurers and does not affect the relationship between insurance companies and ENH or its medical staff.
Patients should contact their physician with questions concerning their care.
return to top |
|
| |
