Deciding against Corporate Management of a State-Supported Academic Medical Center

THE involvement of for-profit corporations in academic medical centers has stimulated wide debate. Critics have pointed out a series of potential problems with the corporate management of such centers, including ethical problems, financial difficulties, conflicts between corporate and academic goals, and limits on services to indigent patients. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Supporters have argued that negotiations between academic medical centers and corporations can resolve such issues. 14 15 16 17 18 During the past two years, the University of California considered the corporate takeover of its most financially troubled teaching hospital — the University of California at Irvine Medical Center (UCIMC). After extensive discussion, the university administration decided not . . .