The Academic Surgical Model Strained

It seems the requirement for surgeons to be part of academia (and therefore, have to contribute to a medical school's "dean's tax" for the priviledge of their academic title), caused surgeons to bail in West Virginia:

“The construct of this relationship historically has dictated that all of the surgeons in the program had to be academic full-time faculty in the School of Medicine. So, I think one could argue, and it was certainly Mon General’s perspective that by only having one model under which cardiac surgeons could work in this market constrained the recruitment process,” McClymonds said.

These days, money talks. Declining Medicare payments coupled with declines in the surgical workforce are permitting many academic surgeons to rethink classic payment models.

-Wes