Twenty-five years ago, the University of Pennsylvania took the first step in establishing one of the first fully integrated academic health systems in the country.
The decision to unite our medical center under a tripartite mission to form the University of Pennsylvania Health System laid the foundation for the strategic expansion of our patient care services across our region and added tremendous strength to the research and education programs that we see today. However, integration was just the first step in a journey that, over time, has proven the adage that “energy and persistence conquer all things.”
As we celebrate this 25th anniversary milestone, that apt framing by our university’s founder, Benjamin Franklin, reminds us of the dedication and institutional investments that helped shape Penn Medicine into one of the most preeminent, integrated health systems in America, if not the world. Franklin would be proud of our accomplishments and the impact we’ve made — and will continue to make — on society.
Providing high quality health care to more patients fueled the creation of the health system in 1993. That commitment, along with countless innovations that have taken place here since, links our inventive spirit and compassion for patients, and has sustained our Penn Medicine ecosystem since.
Today, we’re consistently ranked among the nation’s top hospitals and medical schools by U.S. News & World Report, as a top recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health, and as a top employer by Forbes magazine.
Our growth is unprecedented. We evolved from a medical school with one teaching hospital and a network of physician practices to an $8 billion enterprise with six acute-care hospitals and scores of outpatient practices across the region. Health care should both be local and easy to access, so we’ve worked hard to bring Penn Medicine into the communities we serve. Our clinical staff care for patients more than five million times each year in both our inpatient and outpatient facilities — from the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine to Penn Medicine Radnor to our newest addition, Penn Medicine Princeton Health. In 2021, the new, $1.5 billion inpatient Pavilion, our most advanced and ambitious project yet, will add 500 private rooms for cancer, cardiac, and neurology patients, as well as a new emergency department, to the University City campus.
Recently, Forbes magazine asked hospital CEOs from the around the country how they deliver consistent patient experiences across their enterprises. The answers ran the gamut, from empathy to innovative technologies. I’ll add to that: great staff training. Under the Penn Medicine Academy, we’ve trained more than 10,000 of our health care professionals to enhance their skills and knowledge and ensure patients receive an even and coordinated “Penn Medicine Experience” across the entire health system. The greatest institutions and companies, after all, present themselves the same way every day – and in health care, that ensures patients can rely on excellent, patient-centered care every time.
Another key ingredient to our success has been integration, both of clinical care teams built around coordinated service lines at Penn Medicine, as well as with our partners at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the last two-and-a-half decades, the relationship between Penn Medicine campus and the University flourished, as collaborations among the schools and faculty from a variety of disciplines — medicine to engineering to business — developed and new interdisciplinary centers sprouted up to address complex health care questions.
Our basic science and clinical research endeavors have produced new discoveries that continue to transform medicine. Within the past year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved five new therapies developed by Perelman School of Medicine faculty. The progress in cell and gene therapies represents an unmatched force for medicine across the globe, which is why Philadelphia is proudly dubbed “Cellicon Valley.”
What makes Penn Medicine truly unique is the quality of our people.
Today, we’re made up of 40,000 employees: a group of distinguished, talented people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, prepared for whatever changes come our way, be they in health care policy, the pharmaceutical industry, technology, or delivery of care.
We can’t predict the future, but I know no matter what happens, we are the team to face the challenges of the next 25 years and beyond.