Partnership strengthens education, wellness

This month, aspiring health-care professionals are starting residencies, clerkships, and other clinical education experiences across northwest Ohio. We anticipate that many more University of Toledo medical residents, therapists, nurses, and pharmacists will be educated locally, within ProMedica Health System, thanks to a new academic partnership between our institutions.

This agreement will have an important, immediate positive impact. But its real significance will be felt for generations to come.

A number of mission-driven factors are motivating organizations such as ProMedica and UT to evaluate and implement novel approaches to improving medical education. In moving forward with this agreement, our boards and leadership took a broad, strategic view of how we could work together from a community perspective on health-care planning.

This philosophy goes beyond our organizations. Now more than ever before, we need to evaluate objectively how health systems, academic institutions, hospitals, employers, and other local groups can collaborate to recruit, train, and retain health-care professionals in our region, today and in the future.

Nationwide, resources for delivering health care are shrinking, while the need for top-quality care has never been higher. The enhanced level of cooperation and collaboration between UT and ProMedica is proactive. It provides a stronger, more efficient model for educating health-care professionals as we anticipate the community's needs in this new era of care. This arrangement is unique in structure and community-based, favoring a sustainable and relevant future.

Locally, we face an aging physician work force that is nearing retirement. At the same time, UT-educated medical students and new doctors are increasingly forced to leave the region, because their preferred medical specialty is not offered in the community.

Our partnership addresses these challenges by building on the strengths of both organizations - UT's educational and research base, and ProMedica's clinical base. This relationship will help create an environment that will enable both to be recognized among the top-tier medical organizations in the country. The partnership will become a national authority on health care, research, and education.

ProMedica and UT physicians are well-known nationally and internationally for their expertise. Working together, UT and ProMedica will be able to recruit and retain the best physicians, researchers, and students in northwest Ohio.

UT medical school graduates are already recruited for residencies by many of the nation's best health-care organizations. With this partnership, we can recruit these highly sought-after students to complete their residencies and advanced fellowships locally, with the same breadth of specialties and top-tier educational experiences.

Doctors tend to stay in the area where they complete their residencies. We hope to see a greater number of outstanding UT medical school graduates retained in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

This supply of new physicians is a vital need for the community. We expect to see similar pipelines in other health professions, at a time when more providers are desperately needed.

This relationship will enhance ProMedica patients' access to clinical trials and provide more opportunities for collaboration between UT and ProMedica researchers. We will innovate medical treatments that will help improve the quality of life and lower the cost of care.

As more clinical trials are completed in our area, there are important benefits for our regional economy. New business opportunities, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and services will spin off from the research.

A strong UT-ProMedica academic partnership represents one of this region's most important resources. We are proud to work together to enhance clinical education and ensure that a new generation of professionals is ready to take its place in our community in the decades ahead. Our future is better together.

Randall Oostra is president and chief executive officer of ProMedica Health System. Dr. Jeffrey Gold is chancellor and executive vice president and dean of the college of medicine at the University of Toledo.