PRESS RELEASE
Contacts:
Sabrina Powers, powerss@ccf.org,
216.312.1116
Jim Phillips, phillij2@ohio.edu,
740.593.2202 (office) or 740.517.1022 (mobile)Editor’s
Note:
Cleveland Clinic News Service has posted video from today’s
first day of classes with interviews of students. Click
HERE to directly download b-roll and sound bites (HD.mov). You
can also access footage at
http://dial.ccf.org (User Name: CCNSSpecial; Password:
CCNSSpecial128)
NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL AIMS TO PROVIDE MORE PRIMARY CARE
PHYSICIANS FOR NORTHEAST OHIO
Wednesday, July 8, 2015, Cleveland: The Ohio University
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine has opened a new campus in
affiliation with Cleveland Clinic on the campus of its South Pointe
Hospital in Warrensville Heights, to address the pressing need for
more primary care physicians in northeast Ohio and the rest of the
country.
The first class of 51 medical students arrived for classes today
at the Heritage College, Cleveland. Many of these students have been
recruited from northeast Ohio, with the knowledge that if they train
and complete their residencies in the area, they will be more likely
to remain here to practice after they graduate. The college is
working closely with Cleveland Clinic and other area healthcare
providers to ensure that clinical training slots are available for
these students.
Within the next decade, experts predict a national shortage of
more than 45,000 primary care physicians. The 20 percent of
Americans living in rural or inner-city primary care Health
Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) will be hit the hardest,
according to the Association of American Medical Colleges Center for
Workforce Studies. Northeastern Ohio, which includes Cuyahoga,
Lorain, Geauga, Summit, Medina, Portage, and Lake counties, has the
largest number of HPSAs in Ohio.
The campus will showcase a model of medical education that
emphasizes physician teamwork and will be linked to the Heritage
College’s other two campuses through state-of-the-art
telecommunications technology. Specially designed group work
stations, or “learning pods,” do away with old auditorium-style
lecture halls and allow students and instructors at all three
Heritage College campuses – each with its own full contingent of
students, faculty and staff – to interact in real time via
teleconferenced learning activities and instantaneous sharing of
PowerPoints, video or other electronic materials.
Cleveland campus Dean Isaac J. Kirstein, D.O., said the
partnership allows Cleveland Clinic to take advantage of the
Heritage College’s proven ability to turn out the best in primary
care physicians who stay in Ohio to practice.
“I think the biggest opportunity to align with Cleveland Clinic
is in value-based care,” Kirstein said. “We have to provide
high-quality healthcare at a lower cost. And anyone who’s tried to
crack this nut realizes the answer is really good community-based
primary care.”
Heritage College Executive Dean Kenneth Johnson, D.O., said the
college’s new campuses represent an innovative approach to training
doctors, that aims to meet the nation’s most pressing healthcare
needs.
“The focus as we’ve expanded has been to re-dedicate ourselves to
primary care,” Johnson said. “And this new campus is intended to be
a model for medical education that addresses the shortage of primary
care physicians.”
Cleveland Clinic and the Heritage College signed an affiliation
agreement in June 2012 to develop a campus at the Cleveland Clinic
South Pointe Hospital site. This agreement built on a longstanding
relationship between the college and Cleveland Clinic, having served
as an undergraduate and graduate medical education site for the
college for well over three decades.
“We are changing the way healthcare is going to be taught and the
way it’s going to be delivered,” said J. Stephen Jones, MD,
president of Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Family Health
Centers. “This partnership fits together perfectly with the Heritage
College’s leadership in primary care education and Cleveland
Clinic’s reputation in specialty care.”
Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis, Ph.D., said, “This
expansion of our long-standing partnership with the Cleveland Clinic
is good for Ohio University and Cleveland Clinic, good for the
medical students in our Heritage College, and ultimately, good for
the citizens of Ohio who will benefit from the compassionate,
high-quality healthcare our graduates have been providing for over
three decades. This collaboration will help increase access to care,
stimulate medical innovation and improve the economic health of
communities in northeast Ohio, as well as across Ohio and the
nation.”
Robert Juhasz, D.O., president of Cleveland Clinic South Pointe
Hospital and of the American Osteopathic Association, called the new
campus a welcome addition to the local healthcare landscape.
“The energy that’s coming from the development and opening of the
medical campus has really combined with the mission here at South
Pointe Hospital to improve care for the community that we serve. We
look forward to working together to produce physicians needed for
the future.”
The Heritage College has a track record of graduating physicians
who go into primary care. Approximately 50 percent of Heritage
College alumni practice in primary care and nearly 60 percent
practice in Ohio. The Cleveland campus opening comes a year after
the Heritage College launched the college’s second campus in the
Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio, with OhioHealth as its preeminent
educational partner.
The agreement also represents a significant joint investment of
more than $50 million in northeastern Ohio, with Ohio University
having committed $36 million toward renovating a South Pointe
building, plus expenses relating to faculty, staff and operations;
and Cleveland Clinic contributing $13.4 million toward capital
improvements and renovations, staff and operational support, and
medical education. Another $5 million came from a grant from the
Brentwood Foundation to support the new campus.
Kirstein was chosen in October 2013 to serve as dean of the
Cleveland campus. An internal medicine physician, he had been
serving as vice president of medical affairs and chief medical
officer at Franciscan St. James Health in Chicago Heights, Ill.
Kirstein was also a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission for the
Advancement of Osteopathic Medical Education, created to develop an
innovative model for educating physicians that would help address
the nation’s shortage of primary care doctors.
About Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
The Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine is a
leader in training dedicated primary care physicians who are
prepared to address the most pervasive medical needs in the state
and the nation. Approximately 50 percent of Heritage College alumni
practice in primary care and nearly 60 percent practice in Ohio.
CARE LEADS HERE. Visit us at
http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical
center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and
education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by
four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding
patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion
and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical
breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the
first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World
Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the
nation’s best hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals”
survey.
More than 3,000 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and
11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties.
The Cleveland Clinic health system includes a main campus near
downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals, more than 75 Northern
Ohio outpatient locations, including 16 full-service Family Health
Centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain
Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, scheduled to
begin seeing patients in 2015, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2012,
there were 5.1 million outpatient visits throughout the Cleveland
Clinic health system and 157,000 hospital admissions. Patients came
for treatment from every state and from more than 130 countries.
Visit us at www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at
www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.
### |