Washington, D.C., April 28, 2005 — A new program to improve the care of chronically ill Americans was announced today by the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges). The Academic Chronic Care Collaborative is an initiative of the AAMC's Institute for Improving Clinical Care (IICC), established in 2003 to promote health care innovations in the academic centers where tomorrow's doctors are trained.

Twenty-two of the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals will take part in the AAMC's Academic Chronic Care Collaborative, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national Improving Chronic Illness Care program. The initiative is based on the innovative Chronic Care Model, created by Ed Wagner, M.D., of Seattle's MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation, which identifies the essential elements of a health care system that encourage high-quality chronic disease care.

The 22 participating institutions will undergo extensive redesign of their chronic care strategies as well as provider education to put the Wagner Chronic Care Model into practice. The IICC and Wagner's group will bring together faculty and teams from each participating institution at learning sessions in June and September 2005 and in February 2006. Participants also are assisted by a series of monthly national telephone conferences and a Web site where regular progress reports are posted.

"Medical schools and teaching hospitals play a key role in moving the health care system toward better performance," said AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D.

"The Academic Chronic Care Collaborative is one of several quality improvement initiatives that the IICC is helping to catalyze. By creating learning environments that incorporate the highest quality patient care, we intend to prepare medical students and residents for their future practices and ensure that they will lead the way in health care innovation," Cohen said.

The AAMC Institute for Improving Clinical Care, directed by David P. Stevens, M.D., was established in July 2003 to promote and facilitate improvements in clinical care in collaboration with U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals. One quarter of the nation's medical schools are currently involved in one or more IICC initiatives.

The following academic medical centers are participating in the IICC's Academic Chronic Care Collaborative:

Duke University Medical Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Oregon Health and Science University
Southern Illinois University
University of Minnesota Medical School
University of Michigan School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Emory Healthcare
Lehigh Valley Hospital Network (Penn State School of Medicine)
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
VA Connecticut Healthcare System (Yale University and the University of Connecticut)
University of Colorado Hospital
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
University of Nebraska Medical Center
University of Cincinnati Medical Center
University of Louisville Health Sciences Center
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Medical College of Wisconsin
Summa Health System
Montefiore Medical Center
University of Kentucky Medical School
University of Alabama at Birmingham

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 130 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 125,000 faculty members, 70,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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