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  • Washington Highlights

    AAMC Hosts First Workshop on Systems Approach to Community Health with Federal Agencies

    Philip Alberti, Senior Director, Health Equity Research and Policy

    The AAMC Feb. 23 launched its three year initiative aimed at Building a Systems Approach to Community Health and Health Equity for Academic Medical Centers. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)-funded project seeks to map participating institutions’ community health-focused activities into coordinated systems, and subsequently evaluate impacts for patients, communities, learners and the AAMC-member institutions.

    Featured panelists included Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health Director Cara James, PhD; National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) Chief of Staff Courtney Aklin, PhD; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of the Associate Director for Policy Deputy Director Von Nguyen, MD, MPH; and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Division of Medicine and Dentistry Director Candice Chen, MD, MPH. The panelists each discussed their vision for a “learning community health system.”

    The panel stressed that such a system would promote integrative research training, appreciate and learn from local community assets, develop a diverse set of future health leaders, and be facilitated by local and national policies that incentivize wellness, prevention and cross-sector collaboration.

    More information about the initiative and how institutions can be involved, including presentations from the workshop, is available on the AAMC website.