The College of Medicine, a central piece of a new Academic Health Sciences Center at FIU, promises to transform healthcare and the local economy, according to an economic impact study conducted by Tripp Umbach, the nation's leader in economic impact analysis for academic medical centers.

"The academic health sciences centers are powerful economic forces everywhere. However, we find that the FIU College of Medicine is unique in that it is more focused on healthcare cost savings than any other school in the country," said Paul Umbach, founder and president of Tripp Umbach. "The economic contributions of this enterprise will be far-reaching, and will include savings to taxpayers and employers in the form of reduced healthcare premiums."

NeighborhoodHelp™
The healthcare cost savings will come largely from the college's innovative NeighborhoodHelp™ program, through which medical students will work with colleagues in nursing, public health, business, law and other disciplines, to help struggling families in some of South Florida's poorest neighborhoods. According to the study, that increased access to education, preventive care and research will save Florida taxpayers hundreds of millions in healthcare costs by 2020.

For example, educating women about the benefits of folic acid could result in the prevention of spina bifida cases. One fewer case of spina bifida represents a savings of more than $1 million in lifelong healthcare spending. If NeighborhoodHelp™ were replicated throughout the state, it could reduce healthcare costs by 2 percent, which represents $1.86 billion in annual savings for the State of Florida. NeighborhoodHelp™ is in the planning stages and will be operational by 2011.

Increased business, tax base

The economic activity generated by the College will result in additional tax dollars in the state coffers. In fact, the new Academic Health Sciences Center will return nearly $12 to the state in direct and indirect tax revenue for every $1 invested by the state in the ongoing operations of the FIU College of Medicine.

A major component in the total economic impact of the FIU Academic Health Sciences Center will be as a result of growth in South Florida's bioscience industry. The study estimates that the concentration of talent and the research these faculty members will conduct will result in an expansion of the bioscience industry in South Florida by more than $5.7 billion annually by 2025.