Report Charts UAMS as ‘Exceptional’ Asset for Arkansas
| Jan. 28, 2011 | While educating the next generation of health care professionals, caring for patients and making scientific advances that could lead to new medical treatments, the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS) and affiliates generated more than 34,000 jobs, according to a new report. In 2010, operations of UAMS and its clinical and research affiliates – Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System – generated 34,500 jobs, said the report by the Technology Partnership Practice of the Battelle Memorial Institute, the world’s largest non-profit independent research and development organization. The complete report is available online here. The job total included 17,961 direct jobs by the three organizations along with 16,389 indirect or induced jobs generated by suppliers to the organizations or spending by employees on goods and services. The jobs accounted for more than $1.84 billion in personal income in the state. The overall impact of expenditures by UAMS and its affiliates totaled $3.9 billion. In calculating the economic impact, Battelle used a statistical model that incorporated the spending by the three organizations, economic activity generated by their activities, spending by their suppliers and spending by employees, then used multipliers to determine how that spending affected the state’s economy. “UAMS represents an exceptional asset for the entire state of Arkansas,” the study said. “Battelle further concludes that, among academic medical centers, UAMS is well positioned for continued leadership in the science and technology-driven 21st century economy, and that Arkansas is likely to see significant further impacts and benefits from UAMS in the future.” The report viewed UAMS and its affiliates as “a high priority economic engine for the state,” citing ongoing needs for health care and health care professionals along with the increasing importance of biomedical research to the economy, “We understand the impact our work has on the state’s economy,” said UAMS Chancellor Dan Rahn, M.D. “Still, I think this only illustrates the scope of our true mission to engage in activities – whether patient care, academic or research – that result in better health now and in the future.” Among the findings highlighted by the report: • Inside the six-county Little Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), UAMS generates nearly $1.1 billion in economic impact; outside the MSA, UAMS directly generates $58.5 million in economic impact. Projected UAMS revenue for fiscal year 2011, which ends June 30, is $1.2 billion. Seventy percent of that total comes from patient care; 15 percent from research grants and contracts; 9 percent from state appropriations; 4 percent from gifts and other sources; and 2 percent from tuition. The chancellor noted that the largest revenue source has traditionally been UAMS clinical programs. The clinical revenue is needed, Rahn said, to help fuel the research and academic activities in support of the UAMS mission of improving health. Four observations made by authors of the report: • Continuing enrollment expansion of the UAMS Northwest regional campus in Fayetteville – now in its second academic year with 95 students – will continue to enhance the UAMS economic impact statewide. UAMS commissioned the study to provide a detailed review of the impact on Arkansas by the presence and operations of UAMS. The Battelle report also considered the role of UAMS in providing the physician staffing for the primary health care and research operations of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System. UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Related Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a 540,000-square-foot hospital; a statewide network of regional centers; and six institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, the Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, the Psychiatric Research Institute and the Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging. It is the state’s only Level 1 trauma center. UAMS has 2,836 students and 761 medical residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 1,150 physicians who provide medical care to patients at UAMS, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and UAMS’ Area Health Education Centers throughout the state. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. |