Peter S. Fine,
It seems incredible that we are already recognizing the anniversary of the University of Arizona Health Network’s (UAHN) purchase by Banner Health and the establishment of a 30-year academic affiliation agreement between the University of Arizona and Banner.
It is an understatement to say that the past year has seen a tremendous amount of hard work to integrate a private health network anchored by an academic medical center into Banner Health, a community health system.
But we are very happy to report that a solid foundation has been laid to ensure the delivery of academic-based medical care across Arizona through a remarkable affiliation between Banner and the University of Arizona Colleges of Medicine in Phoenix and Tucson.
This achievement has been made possible by more than 10,000 outstanding health professionals who have come together into a single, statewide academic division within Banner.This new division includes Banner–University Medical Center Phoenix, Banner–University Medical Center Tucson, Banner–University Medical Center South and Banner–University Medical Group.
It is also the result of a partnership that is uncommon in the nation: a decades-long, private-public collaboration designed to serve Arizona’s long-term health needs through an academic enterprise that has served notice of a new era in academic medicine on a national stage.
As we move forward in 2016 and the coming years, the most visible elements of our progress in Phoenix and Tucson will be major construction projects at the Banner–University Medical Centers.
Aging infrastructure at both academic campuses will be replaced or updated by this investment in the clinical operations. These projects are critical to support the teaching and training of physicians, as well as the research and cutting-edge medical care associated with academic medical centers. In addition to these improvements to facilities, Banner is helping to ensure a steady and ample supply of well-trained physicians for Arizona for decades to come by providing investment in new or modernized structures and by supplying $40 million in annual funding to the UA Colleges of Medicine in Phoenix and Tucson and the overall academic enterprise. In fact, physicians who completed our graduate medical education programs in Phoenix and Tucson are now practicing medicine in Arizona. Clearly, these investments also improve our ability to provide excellent patient care.
On Feb. 28, 2015, we made a commitment to the Arizona Board of Regents and the people of Arizona that we would work together in a private-public partnership that would result in a significant annual addition of well-trained physicians to the state’s workforce and deliver outstanding academic medicine that could be available across the state.
After one year, we are proud that our partnership is moving down the path of fulfilling this commitment.
