Building an Academic Health System Takes Time—and Intention

By Keith Bricking, MD, chief clinical officer, Premier Health

Becoming an academic health system is not a quick evolution. It is a deliberate, multi-year commitment that requires patience, persistence, and a clear understanding of why the work matters. At Premier Health, we are intentionally building the academic foundation needed to expand access to specialized care and reduce the need for patients to leave our region for treatment.

One of our primary measures of success is the reduction of patient outmigration. In 2024, inpatient outmigration across our eight-county service area was 15.5%, a reminder that meaningful change does not happen overnight. Academic medicine is built step-by-step—through education, research, leadership development, and clinical program growth that compounds over time.

Learning is central to this journey. Through our partnership with Wright State University, we are strengthening graduate medical education, expanding experiential learning, and building the infrastructure required for sustained clinical research. These investments are essential to recruiting and retaining subspecialty expertise and ensuring patients can receive advanced care close to home.

Today, learners engage with Premier Health each year across the entire education pipeline—from job shadowing and EMS training to nursing, imaging, therapy, pharmacy, and other allied health programs. Thousands of undergraduate and graduate nursing students train within our system annually. These learners are not simply observing care; they are becoming part of an academic environment that values teaching, inquiry, and continuous improvement.

The rollout of our institute structure provides the organizational framework to support this work. Institutes align physician leadership, education, and clinical differentiation—while acknowledging that progress will move through phases of forming, refining, and maturing before reaching full impact. The pace may look different across service lines, and that variability is expected.

Building an academic system requires tolerance for complexity, resilience through change, and trust in the long-term vision. While results may not be immediate, the direction is clear: stronger teams, deeper expertise, expanded learning environments, and care that keeps patients—and talent—here.

Academic medicine is not a sprint. It is a sustained investment in people, programs, and purpose—and one we are committed to advancing together.

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