348
Preker, Beciu, Robyn, Ayettey, and Antwi
Box 18.1 (continued)
this law, states built more medical schools, and existing schools received more government funding with the condition that medical student enrollment rise by at least 5 percent a year (Getzen 1997). Within two decades the number of medical school graduates more than doubled (box figure 1).
30 25 1963 legislation
20 15 10 5
revenues (1995 US$, billion)
35
medical students (thousands)
19 94 -5
19 90 -1
-1 80 19
70
60 19
-1
0
19
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
-1
students (thousands)
Box Figure 18.1.1 Medical School Enrollment and Revenue Patterns, 1960–95
graduate students (thousands)
revenues (1995 US$, billion) Source: Association of American Medical Colleges 1996.
The 1963 legislation had a sizable impact on medical student enrollment and output. Enrollment and graduate output increased rapidly while medical school revenues grew modestly. Medical school revenues grew fastest from 1980 to 1995, while the number of medical students remained fairly constant. Source: Keuffel, Preker, and Ly (2010), based on Getzen (1997).
to generate revenues from increasing output from their core business of producing doctors. U.S. medical schools do not generate much revenue from student tuitions. Although tuition in the United States is the highest in the world, it covers only a small fraction of the total operating revenues (Jones and Korn 1997). Medical schools rely on income from other services to subsidize teaching.