Dayton Business Journal: Wright State and Premier Health proceed on unique partnership

A Dayton-area university and healthcare organization are moving forward on a transformational partnership to bolster Dayton’s healthcare workforce.

Premier Health said in April it planned to invest $25 million in Wright State University over the next two years to help grow and assist the Miami Valley healthcare scene. These funds are just the beginning of a growing partnership. Some of the core components include:

• Elevating Miami Valley Hospital to be formally recognized as an academic medical center
• Leveraging existing resources, including Wright State’s College of Health, Education and Human Services, to improve care for patients and communities in need
• Expanding clinical training programs at Miami Valley Hospital and other related hospital

The two entities have a strong historic relationship and this new endeavor just formalizes it, said Sue Edwards, president of Wright State University.

“Miami Valley Hospital has trained our nurses since its inception. They’ve taught our medical students, our residents, and our fellows. This relationship goes back to 1971, the original agreement between the nursing faculty and the hospital at that time,” Edwards told the DBJ in an exclusive interview.

This collaboration aims to create an academic hospital system similar to the University of Cincinnati’s UC Health centers. Wright State and Premier believe this partnership will fill a growing need for medical professionals in the Miami Valley.

“If you look at the major cities in Ohio, Toledo has an academic medical center, Cleveland has an academic medical center, Columbus has an academic medical center, and Cincinnati has one, too. There is a gaping void in this region,” Edwards said.

Both groups expect to expand their facilities as the program grows. This expansion could lead to the hiring of new professors at the university and more medical trainers at Miami Valley Hospital.

Miami Valley Hospital becoming an academic medical center also may benefit Premier and Wright State financially. The government gives several financial grants to academic medical centers, said Premier Health’s President and CEO Michael Riordan.

“Academic medical centers have access to additional federal dollars that acknowledge the teaching mission,” Riordan told the DBJ. “If you train residents, it does tend to slow you down. It is more costly and resource-intensive. The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, administered at a federal level, acknowledges that and provides access to incremental funding. We’re able to leverage that because of this partnership.”

Overall, both groups believe this partnership will significantly impact the Dayton region. It will help students receive the medical education they need and give the Miami Valley the workforce boost it needs.

“Academic medical centers attract businesses,” Riordan said. “Those businesses will attract solid residents and fellowships. Those individuals then buy houses, and they have dogs, and they buy dog food. They go out to eat; they have kids; those kids need to go to school. They become a part of the Dayton community.”

Read the complete article at bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2024/07/23/wsu-and-premier-grow-existing-partnership.html (subscription required).