Academic Health Centers and the Evolution of the Health Care System

Eugene et al discuss the evolution of the academic health centers (AHCs). Today there are approximately 135 academic health centers (AHCs) in the US. These institutions exist to ensure sustainable health care through their multifold, integrated missions of patient care, education, and research. Yet AHCs have in some ways contributed to the intractable problems that threaten both their viability and the sustainability of health care. To flourish--indeed to survive--AHCs must reconfigure and transform rapidly and broadly in size, speed, value, and innovation, driven by self-reflection and leadership.