Harvard Medical International may be leaving Harvard Medical School

According to an article in today's Harvard Crimso, Harvard Medical International (HMI), which consults to hospitals around the world, is likely to be divested from Harvard Medical School. According to the article (HMS To Drop International Consulting Subsidiary), HMI's increasing focus on health care delivery makes it a better fit for a hospital system than a medical school. Apparently HMI is to be transferred to Partners HealthCare, which includes leading Harvard-affiliated hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's.

The announcement hasn't been confirmed, but it's not exactly a surprise to readers of MedTripInfo. When I interviewed Dr. Robert Crone, HMI's former head, he told me that change was afoot. "I think that Harvard University was very prescient in putting this together. At the same time, there've been changes in leadership at Harvard University and their priorities are changing. So, whether this is going to continue under the current set of circumstances remains to be seen."

HMI doesn't think of itself as a medical tourism group, but some of its clients, such as Wockhardt Hospital in India, are definitely using the Harvard connection and experience to bolster their medical tourism business. It will be interesting to see whether HMI is allowed to keep the Harvard name and how overseas hospitals adjust their marketing and branding messaging in response.