CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
HYANNIS – Cape Cod Healthcare today announces an academic affiliation with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Under the agreement, Cape Cod Healthcare will become a teaching affiliate of UMass Medical School, with medical students completing clinical rotations at Cape Cod Hospital.
The first UMass Medical School students are expected to arrive at Cape Cod Hospital in January for surgical and obstetrics and gynecology rotations.
“We are extremely pleased to become a teaching hospital affiliated with one of the nation’s most prestigious medical schools,” said Cape Cod Healthcare President and CEO Michael K. Lauf. “This is an example of two Massachusetts-based organizations coming together for the betterment of the community and the Commonwealth.”
UMass Medical School, located in Worcester, is the state’s only public medical school, and an integral component of the five-campus UMass system. Its mission is to improve the health and well-being of the people of the Commonwealth and the world, through pioneering advances in education, research and healthcare delivery.
Since graduating its first class of physicians in 1974, UMass Medical School has emerged as one of the nation’s best medical schools for primary care education. It annually ranks in the top 10% among all medical schools for primary care training, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Consistently more than half of the medical school’s graduating students enter primary care residencies and almost 60% of UMass Medical School graduates begin their careers in Massachusetts.
“It’s a privilege to affiliate with Cape Cod Hospital, one of the best community healthcare systems around,” said UMass Medical School Chancellor Dr. Michael F. Collins. “This partnership gives our students access to a first-rate clinical site and a team of caring and committed medical educators, and also extends our medical school’s footprint to a region where we enjoy so many connections.”
The new partnership will allow UMass Medical School students to experience the quality of the facilities, technology and brain trust at Cape Cod Healthcare, said Mr. Lauf. It is hoped that through this new affiliation, some of the medical school students will be encouraged to bring their clinical skills to Cape Cod permanently, he added.
“Education is a key element of our strategic plan, and we are focused on the training and recruitment of physicians going forward,” Mr. Lauf said. “With this new UMass Medical School affiliation, we are starting to achieve this important aspect of our plan.”
Mr. Lauf added that the UMass Medical School academic affiliation “gives our patients and the people of Cape Cod assurances that their community healthcare system is continually acquiring the latest and best medical expertise.”
