Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 25, 2003|Volume 31, Number 27

Research reveals dramatic rise in number of doctors pursuing degrees in both business and medicine

The number of physicians who simultaneously pursue medical and business degrees has increased dramatically, according to a study led by a faculty member at the School of the Management.

The study, published in a March issue of Academic Medicine, found that the rise in M.B.A.-trained doctors mirrors the rise in the number of M.D./M.B.A. programs in the last decade in the United States. Dr. Howard P. Forman, an associate professor of diagnostic radiology and management at Yale, was the senior investigator of the study, which he conducted with Dr. David B. Larson, a 2002 graduate of Yale's joint M.D./M.B.A. program who is now a resident physician in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, and Dr. Maria Chandler.

The research team looked at the rise in the number and nature of affiliations between management and medicine in the form of M.D./M.B.A. programs in the United States. It found that there is a strong and relatively sudden demand for management training from the outset of physicians' careers.

The team surveyed the admissions officers of 125 U.S. medical schools and the overseers of each joint M.D./M.B.A. degree program. It examined the growth in the number of programs, the curriculum and degree requirements, application and admissions requirements, and program leadership and organization.

According to the study, the number of M.D./M.B.A. programs grew from 6 to 33 between 1993 and 2001, with 17 additional medical schools now considering establishing such programs. Over 100 students are expected to graduate per year when all 33 programs reach capacity, which would rival the number of graduating students entering some medical specialties.

The study's authors say that medical professionals have increasingly advocated applying management techniques to the delivery of health care in order to improve patient safety, health care quality, organizational design and effectiveness, and even clinical decision making. Physicians have sought out M.B.A. degrees to acquire the skills necessary for this, even in the form of pursuing medical and business degrees at the same time.

While most M.D./M.B.A. programs attempt to complement medical education with business education rather than the converse, Yale's M.D./M.B.A. program is unique in that it integrates the two programs fully with training at both the School of Medicine and the School of Management. Medical students are actively engaged in leadership studies from their time of acceptance into the School of Management, and joint-degree students continue to participate in clinical activities. A distinguishing feature of the Yale M.D./M.B.A. program is that graduates typically go on to clinical residencies, and nearly all of the students in this program participate in healthcare-related internships, including work within government, academic medicine and not-for-profit organizational work.

"This year, our second group of graduate students has 'matched' for their residencies, with five students pursuing continuing medical training at Johns Hopkins University (two students --one for ophthalmology and one for internal medicine), the Brigham and Women's Hospital (internal medicine), the University of Pennsylvania (diagnostic radiology), and Cornell Medical Center (internal medicine)," says Forman, who directs the University's M.D./M.B.A. program and who holds an M.B.A. himself. He also serves as a lecturer in the economics department and is a practicing cross-sectional and emergency/trauma radiologist, as well as vice chair for finance and administration in the medical school's Department of Radiology.

Forman says that many of the M.D./M.B.A. programs train students in health services management. Yale's integrated program, however, does not confine them to that role, he says, adding that participants in Yale's program "will be leaders in improving health and health care in this country, through the use of expert clinical skills and substantive management science training."

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