Purpose: Income from a university hospital can be an important source of revenue for a medical university. However, at private medical schools, it is difficult to secure this revenue due to several external environmental factors. This paper discusses a strategy for profitability that private medical schools could employ to enable them to continue to deliver high-quality medical education in a difficult economic environment.
Methodology: To evaluate medical school financial situation, 11 medical schools were selected from among 82 medical departments. Financial indicators were collected and calculated on a per-bed basis. Values for these variables were compared between private universities and national or municipal universities.
Results: There was a strong positive correlation between the number of beds and medical income. However, increasing the number of beds did not contribute to an increase in ordinary profit. When drawing an approximate curve of the ordinary profit ratio and the number of beds, the profit ratio peaked at between 1,500 and 1,700 beds.
Conclusions: This study indicates private medical schools should consider reviewing the number of their university hospital beds. To maximise investment in medical education, it is essential to ensure sound university hospital operation and university management, and this research is expected to provide a basic policy.
