Integrated Care and the Future of Medical Education

Kaiser Permanente is planning to open a Medical School in 2019.  According to the New York Times: “The system’s leaders said their central goal was to teach Kaiser’s model of integrated care to a new generation of doctors who will be under pressure to improve health outcomes and control costs by working in teams and using technology.”

The LA Times reports that Kasier looked to North Shore as a model: “Kaiser studied North Shore-LIJ Healthy System’s medical school in Long Island, N.Y., which accepted its first class only four years ago. The school, affiliated with Hofstra University, diverges from the traditional model of two years of classroom study followed by two years of clinical training, said Michael Dowling, the school’s president and chief executive, who advised Kaiser on its plan. Incoming students are immediately sent out to train as emergency medical technicians on ambulances, for example.”

There is growing recognition of the gap between the tools required by doctors to succeed in a transformed medical landscape shaped by VBP and DSRIP, such as working within teams and the ability to investigate and improve systems, and the traditional medical school curriculum.  While the restructuring of medical schools is one solution to helping doctors succeed in a changing healthcare delivery system, it is hard not to wonder what the plan is for those of us currently practicing medicine.