An especially critical issue is that the long-term financial stability of the nation's teaching hospitals is seriously threatened. Every university that has a medical center with a teaching hospital faces a funding challenge. Yet, UCLA hospitals will face an operating deficit this year, as will many of the teaching hospitals in the United States. Medical research, the education and training of physicians and other health-care professionals and, ultimately, the quality of patient care in the United States and throughout the world are seriously jeopardized by this dire fiscal reality. The revenue helped to pay for research, training the next generation of physicians and scientists and treating those who were most ill.
Teaching hospitals are a national resource.
Budget deficits and staff downsizing have become common at some of the most distinguished teaching hospitals in the nation. Some will be forced to close, and those that survive will become less able to conduct unprofitable but crucial biomedical research. Investment in university research and teaching hospitals is essential. That is why I disagree with the argument that heads of universities should spend less time on budget matters and more on the issues that really matter. The financial challenges facing public universities and teaching hospitals really do matter and are well worth our time and resources.