December 4, 2001
Indiana Receives Funding To Expand Health Care Education, Access
INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana has expanded its outreach to medically underserved
communities with the acquisition of a $2.1 million Area Health Education
Center grant.
The federal funding, awarded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services
Administration, is for a three-year period but renewal options for additional
three-year periods are provided. Additional three-year match funding commitments
have been provided, including $210,000 from the Indiana State Department
of Health and $450,000 from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
AHECs have been established in the majority of the 50 states. The program
is unique because the funding allows states and individual communities
to determine the needs of the people and develop programs to fulfill those
needs.
"AHEC is community-based and possesses the flexibility to meet specific
and changing community health care needs," said Stephen J. Jay, M.D.,
associate dean and chairman of the Department of Public Health at IU School
of Medicine. Dr. Jay is the project's principal investigator and played
a key role in bringing AHEC funding to Indiana.
"The entire process was a collaborative effort with Indiana's state
and federal leaders, health care institutions including the Indiana State
Department of Health, educational institutions including the School of
Medicine, and others concerned with the well-being of the state's communities,"
said Dr. Jay.
The IU Department of Family Medicine was a key collaborator in developing the AHEC proposal and will play a major role in managing the Indiana AHEC initiative.
Senators Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Gov. Frank
O'Bannon were instrumental in assisting with the grant process and securing
the funding, Dr. Jay said. Other federal and state legislators also played
a role, making the entire process a bipartisan, community effort to benefit
Hoosiers, he added.
The primary mission of AHEC is to enhance access to quality health care
through community and health care provider educational programs, training,
practitioner support, practitioner recruitment, and disease prevention.
The unique aspect of AHEC that makes it so appealing is each community
determines its needs and the support services necessary to meet those
needs, said Dr. Jay. Advisory boards are established in each region to
determine the focus and tools necessary to make the primary mission a
reality.
In Indiana, regional AHECs will be established with the first forming
in the Terre Haute region. The West Central AHEC, as that region is called,
is already establishing its advisory board and determining its goals.
The Northwest AHEC in the Lake County region will organize in 2002. The
Southeast-South Central AHEC, a 20-county region, and smaller community
AHECs in the remaining regions of Indiana determined to be medically underserved
will be established by 2006.
Roy W. Geib, Ph.D., assistant dean and director of the IU School of Medicine Terre Haute Medical Education Center, is interim director of the Terre Haute AHEC. The funding be used to support clinical education for health profession students in rural settings to encourage them to practice in the area. Recruitment of future health care providers, public health education and other health-related programming also are in the planning stage.
"This is an important opportunity for the School of Medicine to
once again partner with other educational institutions to meet the health
care needs of Indiana. By working together with the legislators, the partnering
educational institutions can more effectively address the future workforce
needed to meet the health care needs of an aging population in the 21st
century," said Dr. Geib.
"By working with school corporations, AHECs around the nation have
been very successful in attracting young individuals to consider careers
in the health care industry. We look forward to establishing a a very
successful model program here in West Central Indiana," he added.
Congress created the AHEC program in 1971 to encourage medical schools
to increase the number of students and residents trained in underserved
community-based settings. The focus of the AHEC program in 2001 includes
the primary care needs of local communities as well as contemporary issues
of public health infrastructure, access to quality health services and
diversity of health professions workforce.
For additional information, see www.nationalahec.org.
# # #
Media Contact: Mary Hardin
317-274-7722
mhardin@iupui.edu
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
A STATEWIDE
RESOURCE
Phone
317 274 7722
Fax
317 278 8722