A new report from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reveals that its member medical schools and teaching hospitals had a combined economic impact of $451 billion on their states and the nation in 2005. In California, UCLA Medical Center and other academic medical centers had a combined economic impact of nearly $35.5 billion.

California's medical schools and major teaching hospitals are directly and indirectly responsible for more than 200,069 full-time jobs. The UCLA Health System, which includes UCLA Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, directly employs more than 14,000 full-time employees.

Nationally, the report found that the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools and more than 400 major teaching hospitals represented by the AAMC employ nearly 1.67 million individuals and are directly and indirectly responsible for more than 3 million full-time jobs - one out of every 48 wage earners in the United States.

The overall economic impact of institutions such as the UCLA Health System on California and the national economy takes into account the direct and indirect business volume generated by medical schools and teaching hospitals, including institutional spending, employee spending and spending by patients, their families and visitors (excluding spending for patient care and medical services). According to the report, every dollar spent by a medical school or teaching hospital indirectly generates an additional $1.30 when it is "re-spent" on other businesses or individuals, resulting in a total impact of $2.30 per dollar.

California's medical schools and teaching hospitals also generated more than $1.72 billion in state tax revenue in 2005 through income and sales taxes, corporate income taxes and capital stock/franchise taxes paid by businesses that collect revenue from state institutions.
In addition, UCLA Medical Center and other academic medical centers in California generated more than $1.01 billion in out-of-state medical visitor-related revenue in 2005, including direct spending in local communities by out-of-state patients and their friends and families.

The AAMC report, "The Economic Impact of AAMC-Member Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals," does not include the economic impact of patient care-related spending at hospitals, nor does it account for the economic benefits of physician training programs and community service programs such as UCLA's health center at the Union Rescue Mission and the Venice Family Clinic. This report was prepared for the AAMC by the consulting firm Tripp Umbach. For a copy of the report, visit http://www.aamc.org/economicimpact.

UCLA Medical Center is a nonprofit, self-supporting 668-bed hospital providing patient care in all medical specialties. It is the primary teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA provides adults, teens and children with a full continuum of psychiatric care, including inpatient, day hospital and outpatient services. Located in the UCLA Medical Center, UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital is a hospital-within-a-hospital that includes a 120-bed inpatient unit and the outpatient Children's Health Center that together serve more than 34,000 patients each year. For information about clinical programs or help in choosing a personal physician, call (800) UCLA-MD1 or visit http://www.healthcare.ucla.edu.