THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, October 26, 1995             TAG: 9510260468
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   68 lines

CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION: ***************************************************************** Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk is a private medical school that receives some state assistance. It does not own a hospital. A story in Thursday's BusinessNews section erroneously described it as a privately run hospital. Correction published Friday, October 27, 1995. ***************************************************************** EVMS CONTRIBUTES $500 MILLION TO LOCAL ECONOMY, STUDY SAYS

Amid the possibility of major funding changes at Virginia's two teaching hospitals, Eastern Virginia Medical School on Wednesday released a study concluding that EVMS contributes more than $500 million annually to Hampton Roads' economy.

The study values direct and indirect spending attributable to EVMS at $513.9 million annually. That spending generates 8,565 jobs and a $208 million payroll, reported Old Dominion University economics professors Gilbert R. Yochum and Vinod B. Agarwal.

``When you start peeking behind the scenes, because you have a medical school there, you have a lot of services that wouldn't be here without it,'' Yochum said.

EVMS commissioned the study by Yochum and Agarwal to have some concrete numbers to show to the General Assembly.

Gov. George F. Allen and the General Assembly are conducting a ``privatization study'' of the state's two other teaching hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia in Richmond and the University of Virginia's hospitals. Allen has said he won't consider selling outright the two state-funded hospitals, but the privatization committee could recommend major changes in funding.

EVMS is a privately run hospital, but relies on the state for more than $11 million a year in contributions.

``We're not looking for an increase in funding; we're fortunate we get the funding we do,'' said Sheila Edelheit, EVMS spokeswoman. ``When you have a nonpublic school, we wanted to be able to say we contribute this much.''

To calculate EVMS's economic contribution to Hampton Roads, Yochum and Agarwal used a U.S. Department of Commerce model similar to the one they used to calculate that Virginia Beach's tourism industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Hampton Roads economy.

In other words, Yochum said, EVMS contributes roughly half as much to the region's economy as do the tourists who come to Virginia Beach. The study calculated that EVMS:

Has a direct impact of $268 million and an indirect impact of $245.9 million.

Directly generates 5,024 jobs, including 1,606 EVMS employees, along with other jobs in the medical and service industries spawned by the medical school.

Has a direct job payroll of $139.2 million, an average of $27,700 per job, and an indirect job payroll of $69.2 million, or $19,500 per worker.

``They leave a strong economic trail,'' Yochum said. ``Of course, the Jones Institute is the best-known, but in diabetes, children's care and other areas they have services where they compete on a state, national or an international basis.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Photo of EVMS]

by CNB