Clinical Practice Plans

Published November 28, 2017

More than 500 faculty members in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (Jacobs School) and in the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo are practicing physicians and dentists, providing care to the community through practice plans.

These reknowned teachers, researchers and doctors dedicate their lives to helping thousands of Western New Yorkers live healthier lives. As faculty members in the Jacobs School and in the School of Dental Medicine, UBMD practice plan physicians and dental medicine practice plan dentists play a unique and vital role in the region, training the next generation of health care leaders while advancing standards of care for today’s patients. Many of these physicians and dentists conduct the research today that will lead to tomorrow’s breakthrough treatments and cures. As a result, patients of these physicians and dentists have the opportunity to participate in – and benefit from –groundbreaking clinical trials.

UBMD and the dental medicine practice plans operate outside of UB and exist under an agreement with the Practice Plans corporation and New York State. Within their respective practices plans, physicians and dentists are compensated through fees for service paid by patients and insurance companies directly to UBMD and the dental medicine practice plans.

Professional income billed and collected by practice plans provides funds to the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and to the UB School of Dental Medicine in accordance with Article XVI, §4(g)(1) of the Policies of the Board of Trustees.  Article XVI requires for a disbursement of clinical practice income in the amount of five percent of the gross income of clinical practice plans into a fund of the respective school to be administered by the President, or designee, specifically for the benefit of the respective school.  The management of clinical practice income supports the education mission of the university and its respective schools.

  • The Articles of Incorporation of each practice plan indicate that the corporation was formed for the purpose of supporting the education mission by providing clinical instruction and supervision of students, interns and residents of the school.  Members and directors of the corporation must be members of the faculty. If the corporations should ever dissolve, the net assets will be paid to UB for the purpose of their respective schools.
  • Article XVI of the SUNY Board of Trustees Policies, which is the “Plan for the Management of Clinical Practice Income” requires SUNY employees who (i) serve in a position of academic rank in a school of medicine and (ii) perform the professional clinical practice of medicine, to be a member of a plan for the management of clinical practice.
  • Section 1412 of the New York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law provides in part that one or more individuals who are duly authorized by law to render the professional practice of medicine and dentistry and who are members of the faculty of the same accredited medical or dental school may organize a university faculty practice corporation under this article for the purpose of supporting the educational mission of such school by providing clinical instruction and supervision of students of such school, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.  The UB practices are incorporated pursuant to this Section 1412.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 98 percent of accredited medical schools have associated practice plans (AAMC Organizational Characteristics Database (OCD), July 2015) and public accredited U.S. medical schools received 37.4% of their revenue from practice plans in FY2016 (AAMC Tables and Graphs for Fiscal Year 2016).  According to the American Dental Association (American Dental Association, Health Policy Institute, 2015-16 Survey of Dental Education: Report 3 – Finances), public accredited U.S. dental schools received 22.6% of their revenue from patient care services.