Goals
Under California's Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is delegated primary responsibility in public higher education for doctoral education. For the health professions, this means that UC is delegated exclusive responsibility in public higher education for the following professional degrees: DDS (Doctor of Dental Science), MD (Doctor of Medicine), OD (Doctor of Optometry), Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD), and DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine). In nursing and in public health, UC is responsible in public higher education for doctoral education leading to the following degrees: PhD (nursing) and PhD (public health) and DrPH (public health).
UC health sciences programs have grown and emerged as national and international leaders in teaching, research and clinical care. In support of these programs, Health Sciences and Services (HSS) provides leadership and strategic direction to advance the missions of the University's 16 health professional schools and 10 hospitals, collectively referred to as UC Health. HSS works within and across the system to advance operational initiatives at individual UC health sciences campuses and to develop system-wide initiatives that add synergy and value beyond the sum of individual campus contributions.
Narrative
The University of California operates the largest health sciences instructional program in the nation, enrolling more than 14,000 students annually in 16 schools located on seven health sciences campuses. These programs include five schools of medicine and four smaller medical education programs (located in Berkeley, Fresno, Riverside, and at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science); three schools of nursing; two schools each of dentistry, pharmacy and public health; and one school each of optometry and veterinary medicine. Active efforts are also underway to transition a medical student education program that has operated as a joint effort between UC Riverside and UCLA for more than 30 years to a fully independent UC medical school.
The University of California's five academic medical centers (Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco) provide a vast resource for the clinical training programs of UC health professional schools. It prepares future generations of health professionals, catalyzes major advances in biomedical and clinical research, and serves as California's fourth-largest health care delivery system. UC staffs five major trauma centers, providing half of all transplants and one-fourth of extensive burn care in the state. In 2009-10, UC medical centers managed more than 850,000 inpatient visits and discharges, 265,000 emergency room visits and 3.5 million outpatient visits. Approximately, 40 percent of UC patients are uninsured or covered by Medi-Cal. Roughly 60 percent of all hospital days are used by Medicare, Medi-Cal or uninsured patients. In support of its teaching, research and public service missions, UC health programs also maintain active relationships with more than 100 affiliated Veterans Affairs, county and community-based health facilities located throughout California.
In view of the size and contributions of health-related programs across the UC system, select performance indicators related to students, faculty, and research are also included in the respective sections of this report that are devoted to those categories. For example, indicators related to students enrolled in UC professional degree programs are also included in Chapter 5 (Graduate Academic and Professional Degree Students). Chapter 6 (Faculty and Other Academic Employees) includes indicators related to UC faculty appointments, headcounts and conference of doctoral degrees. Information regarding diversity is found in Chapter 8. Research workforce indicators for medicine and health sciences, as well as indicators for general funding and expenditures, are included in Chapter 10 (Research).
In addition, this chapter includes information and performance indicators for various aspects of the University's health sciences system, including information regarding health professional students; health sciences instruction and research expenditures; and the health science academic workforce. This section also includes a number of indicators and metrics related to the University's health care delivery system.
Looking forward
California's population is growing, aging, and increasing in diversity. Already the most populous state in the nation, California is expected to grow at nearly twice the national average by 2025. Statewide shortages of health providers exist in many health professions, and shortages loom in others. These challenges will grow as health reforms drive increasing demand for quality and accountability in the delivery of health services. At a time of unprecedented budgetary challenges, UC Health is working to support new initiatives and developments to help meet current and future health care needs. They include the opening of the new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis, the creation of new programs in medical education that focus specifically on the needs of medically underserved communities at each UC medical school, and ongoing efforts to establish a new medical school focusing on the needs of California's Inland Empire at UC Riverside. Development of the California Telemedicine Network, a statewide initiative led by UC, with funding from the state's Proposition 1D, will provide needed infrastructure to expand access to specialty services through telemedicine. Similarly, the new UC Center for Health Quality and Innovation, launched by UC Health in 2010, is expected to promote and advance innovations in clinical care that will improve patient outcomes and quality of care with the UC system and beyond. These and other activities are among the many new initiatives that are now underway within UC to help improve quality, access and value in the delivery of health services.
For more information
The UC health sciences and services website, www.universityofcalifornia.edu/sites/uchealth, contains additional information about health sciences education, research and patient care activities. The January 2010 Accountability Sub-Report on Health Sciences and Services provides a fuller description of the broad sweep of the University's activities in health sciences and services.