It's official: ENH and Northwestern are parting. It's a sad day, really. The relationship, while strained, was a good one in many ways for both parties. But business is business, and the complexities of the ever-changing Chicago healthcare market have strained the marriage to its breaking point.
Now ENH must choose a new name, change its stationary, find a new academic partner, re-establish some 180 academic appointments, re-certify its training programs, and work toward re-branding itself.
It'll be interesting, to say the least. I'll be interested to see what the community thinks...
-Wes
Addendum: More from the Chicago Tribune.
3 comments:
Wow - that's a huge change. You seem rather calm about the whole thing. I guess the U Chicago affiliation looks pretty promising?
tbtam-
Yep, it's huge. The affiliation has been present since about 1930 in some form or another (the last agreement was signed in 1994), but it's a done deal now. There were efforts to resolve the differences between the two institutions, but they failed a rapid death. So what else can I do? It's time to move on.
Prelim reports seem to look pretty good regarding the U of Chicago affiliation going forward, but it ain't a done deal yet.
We heard the whole saga this AM at a doctors' briefing... what's clear is that the conventional academic model is dying a rapid death as the health care terrain changes. Looming universal healthcare, more uninsured, and additional pressures mounting to survive - cause increased competition for the patients with the Benjamins.
I'm shocked at this development. I always felt the ENH-NU tie was strong and complementary, not just with Feinberg but with the Evanston NU campus as well. I was afraid of this type of thing happening in Chicago as I interviewed for cardiology fellowships this year (a premonition?), and would've been disappointed had I chose Northwestern and been subsequently unable to do a couple months up in Evanston.
As an aside, the U of C affiliation seems odd. The two institutions are so much further apart than ENH and NMH. I cannot fathom the pain it would be for U of C med students, residents and fellows to have to drive up to Evanston or Glenbrook from the South Side.
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