Detroit Medical Center's 60-year-old neurosurgery residency program will shut down June 30 after a national council withdrew its accreditation last fall and then rejected DMC's appeal to rebuild the 14-resident program.

Since DMC was notified on Sept. 18 of the pending loss of accreditation by the Chicago-based Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, most of the 12 neurosurgery residents enrolled in the seven-year program have sought out and found other positions at other hospitals, said a knowledgeable source who asked to remain anonymous.

One of the reasons DMC appealed the program's loss of accreditation is that it must cover resident compensation and benefits, two sources told Crain's. Other reasons include that neurosurgery, one of 65 programs that DMC sponsors, is a critical training program for a level I trauma center.

DMC declined an interview, but issued the following statement:

"We are disappointed in ACGME's decision regarding our graduate medical education program in neurological surgery," the DMC said. "We believe that our program substantially complied with ACGME standards and that our continued efforts to optimize the program merited continued accreditation."

DMC said it would soon begin the process of reapplying with the ACGME to start a new neurosurgery residency program.

"We are committed to serving the neurosurgery needs of our community, both through patient care and resident training," the DMC said in the statement, adding that training doctors is "an essential part of our mission."

Problems with the neurosurgery program reflects the dysfunction between DMC and its longtime academic partner, the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Over the past decade, DMC and Wayne State have had numerous problems related to funding teaching, clinical services and research. Two years ago, Wayne State even explored, for the fourth time in 20 years, an affiliation with Henry Ford Health System, a move that was scuttled in March by bickering on the university board of governors.

Another complicating factor that has colored the relationship has to do with the financial problems that the University Physician Group, a multi-specialty faculty practice plan affiliated with Wayne State, has faced the past five years. While on the financial mend, UPG last year emerged from bankruptcy, but with 108 fewer doctors (304) than the 412 it had five years ago.

During that time, DMC recruited many doctors affiliated with Wayne State faculty and UPG, a move that medical school officials regularly criticized. DMC has maintained that it only hires Wayne State doctors who have expressed interest in employment arrangements and does not actively recruit.