The College of William & Mary’s Due Diligence Committee has recommended piloting a partnership with Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Gov. Bob McDonnell has thrown his support behind the proposal.
On Wednesday, McDonnell added a $200,000 amendment to his proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 to support a pilot partnership between the two schools, which are studying the possibilities of a merger. In December, the W&M Board of Visitors voted in step with the governing board of EVMS to request $1 million to study how the two schools could work together.
Last month, the college’s Due Diligence Committee delivered its report to W&M President Taylor Reveley. The committee concluded it is too early to decide whether the two schools should merge, but recommended a two-step approach to continue exploring the issue. First, the committee proposed developing a pilot program between W&M and EVMS and its health industry partners that would examine “health care delivery science.” Depending on the success of the pilot program, the committee would then recommend what it felt was the most appropriate relationship between W&M and EVMS.
The committee determined it’s possible that a collaboration in delivery science could attract funding from Sentara and possibly the Commonwealth “to allow all parties to contribute to a better balance across quality, access and cost,” according to the report.
In an email to the campus community, Reveley said the exploration phase will take 12 to 18 months. “It might loosely be compared to a period in which the two schools ‘date’ to help determine whether something more lasting has merit for each,” he said.
In July, W&M announced it was going to explore the possibility of EVMS becoming the College of William & Mary School of Medicine, at the urging of EVMS (read more here). To evaluate what that would entail and its effects, both schools formed due diligence committees.
W&M’s committee was tasked with determining whether a partnership with EVMS would strengthen the college in the short- or long-term, how it might enhance its academic excellence, how it might extend new opportunities to W&M students and forge new connections in the larger community. Read more about the committee’s work here.
