Dr. John Crissman, interim dean of the Wayne State University (WSU) School of Medicine, and Dr. Arthur Porter, president and chief executive officer of the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), have announced the establishment of an academic services contract between the medical school and the medical center. Although an affiliation has existed between the two institutions since their early beginnings, this is the first time a contractual agreement has been drafted to uniformly process payments and employment arrangements between WSU’s School of Medicine and the DMC.

“We are re-examining how we do business,” said Dr. Crissman. “WSU and the DMC are finding ways to direct money more appropriately and use dollars more efficiently.”

“This agreement clarifies, in an accountable manner for both parties, a formal contracting for services provided to DMC by WSU,” explained Dr. Porter. “In no way does this fiscal contract change our affiliation agreement with the medical school. This is a formal financial contract to have the WSU School of Medicine serve as faculty for the Detroit Medical Center’s residents.”

WSU and the DMC have agreed to the following components of the contract:

1. Direct medical education - The DMC will transfer $39 million of the $78 million they receive from the Direct Medical Education fund to WSU faculty members who manage the medical education and training programs for medical students and residents.

2. Uncompensated care - Of the $77 million the DMC receives for unreimbursable patient care from Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan, $23 million will be given to WSU faculty members, who are the DMC’s major providers of uncompensated medical care. According to Dr. Crissman, this payment provides approximately 25 to 30 percent of the unreimbursed care provided by WSU faculty members.

3. Medical administration - Many WSU faculty hold key administrative appointments at the Detroit Medical Center (for example, WSU clinical department chairs are DMC specialists-in-chief). The DMC will pay for these services on a case-by-case basis.

4. Program support - Medical services and programs that are mutually beneficial to the medical school and medical center will receive payment support. These programs will be negotiated on an individual, as-needed basis with various WSU faculty practice plans and private physicians.

“We recognize the financial stress of the DMC and we are willing to make sacrifices to see the DMC succeed,” said Dr. Crissman. “At the same time, we understand that new financial pressures will force us to re-evaluate how to most efficiently conduct business while serving our missions to educate, conduct research and provide patient care.”