Indiana University (IU) needed to examine the organizational structure of, and investment in, its health science schools.
IU’s health sciences schools and programs had highly complex and variable organizational structures, distributed across the main university campus in Bloomington, a separate campus in Indianapolis (operated in concert with another public university), and 10 regional campuses across the state. The array of health sciences included schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, optometry, social work, health and human sciences, and two schools of public health. IUSOM is Indiana’s exclusive allopathic medical school and the largest medical school in the United States, with a total enrollment of over 1,400 students and nearly 2,000 full-time faculty.
ECG partnered with university leadership to assess the organizational design and performance of the health sciences, a process that included:
ECG developed recommendations for a revamped health sciences framework intended to improve efficiency, allocation of institutional resources, measurement of success, and alignment of goals and objectives across the schools. The comprehensive final report included key findings and opportunities for improvement—both for health sciences as a whole and for each individual school. Our recommendations addressed organizational structure, geographic distribution of schools, strategic planning, and mission support and funds flow. We also developed a detailed implementation timeline for these recommendations.
One of our key recommendations was the development of a separate and distinct IU health sciences center in Indianapolis. Following the final report, the IU Board of Trustees approved the separation of IU’s campus in Indianapolis from its public university partner. IU further announced it would enhance the integration of its science, SOM, and other allied health science schools, and expand the number of health science students, including doctors and nurses.
