The AHEC (Area Health Education Centers) program was developed by Congress in 1971 to recruit, train and retain a health professions workforce committed to underserved populations. The AHEC program helps bring the resources of academic medicine to address local community health needs. The strength of the AHEC Network is its ability to creatively adapt national initiatives to help address local and regional healthcare issues.
Today, 54 AHEC programs with more than 200 centers operate in almost every state and the District of Columbia. Approximately 120 medical schools and 600 nursing and allied health schools work collaboratively with AHECs to improve health for underserved and under-represented populations.
CONNECTING STUDENTS
TO CAREERS
®Over
255,000 students introduced to health career
opportunities
®Nearly
102,000 students received more than 20 hours of
health career exposure, information and academic
enhancement to prepare them for health professions
training programs
®
Majority of students (87%) were from
underrepresented minority groups or from
economically disadvantaged communities
CONNECTING
PROFESSIONALS TO COMMUNITIES
®Over
44,000 health professions students received training
at 17,000 community-based sites
®Nearly
8,000 of the community-based training sites were
located in underserved areas, including over 3,500
in designated Health Professions Shortage Areas (HPSAs)
and over 1,000 at Community Health Centers
®Over
60% of the health professions students were
physicians (41%) or nurses (20%)
®
Students placed with nearly 18,000 community
preceptors
®Health
professions students provided healthcare-related
service valued at nearly $65 million at community
based sites
CONNECTING
COMMUNITIES TO BETTER HEALTH
®
347,000 health professionals received training
through AHEC continuing education programs
®
One-half of the continuing education program
participants were physicians (28%) or nurses (20%)
®
Awarded 1.1 million contact hours of continuing
education programs
NAO
Committee on Research and Evaluation 2007, CPMS/UPR
AHEC funding at the federal level is through the Bureau of
Health Professions, HRSA
Imbalances in our healthcare system result in marked inequities in access to and quality of healthcare services. This perpetuates disparities in health status and the under-representation of minority and disadvantaged individuals in the healthcare workforce. AHEC programs play a key role in correcting these inequities and strengthening the nation’s health care safety net. Through community-based interdisciplinary training programs, AHECs identify, motivate, recruit, train, and retain a health care workforce committed to underserved populations.
