Wright State, Premier expand partnership, make Miami Valley full academic hospital

Wright State University and Premier Health — two of the biggest employers in the Dayton region — will expand their existing collaboration and formally recognize Miami Valley Hospital as an academic medical center.

Leaders of both institutions say the deal will advance academic medicine, and improve the physical and economic health of the Miami Valley Region.

The first step will be jointly recruiting a national candidate for a newly created role that will serve as both the dean of Wright State’s Boonshoft School of Medicine and chief academic officer for Premier.

Leaders from both organizations said that the focus of the partnership is to improve the health of the Dayton region by providing better medical services closer to home, expanding clinical training programs at Miami Valley Hospital and leveraging existing resources within the university to improve care for patients and communities in need.

Wright State University President Sue Edwards said the announcement on Friday, Dec. 15, was a huge occasion for the two Dayton-based organizations.

“Their missions are fully aligned, and that is to provide high quality medical care to the community in which we both serve,” Edwards said. “It also allows us to think about the future of our medical school and how we can increase the clinical opportunities for our medical students and our residents.”

The Dayton region is one of the only major metropolitan regions in Ohio that lacked an academic medical center, said Micheal C. Riordan, president and CEO of Premier Health.

Riordan said the collaboration aligns with Premier’s mission statement.

“We care, we teach, we innovate, and we serve. This syncs up with all of them,” he said. “Our big part of it is the ‘we care.’ This helps us grow that next generation of caregivers, and others, that can serve this region in a terrific way.”

This collaboration between the university and health network will fill a need for residents of the Dayton region who might be traveling to Cincinnati, Columbus or Cleveland to receive high quality health care services now, Riordan and Edwards said.

Through their partnership the two organizations have also been addressing the shortage of health care in rural communities by coordinating a family medicine residency program aimed at training physicians who will establish medical practices in underserved areas of rural Ohio.

Premier Health is the second largest employer in the Dayton area with 14,000 workers.

In addition to hiring for the newly created position to guide the collaboration, the presidents of Wright State and Premier Health will draft a business plan defining and outlining the two organization’s future operating relationship by April 30, 2024.