The purpose of the AHEC Program is to develop and enhance education and training networks within communities, academic institutions, and community-based organizations. In turn, these networks support BHW's strategic priorities to increase diversity among health professionals, broaden the distribution of the health workforce, enhance health care quality, and improve health care delivery to rural and underserved areas and populations.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) is accepting applications for Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program. The AHEC Program develops and enhances education and training networks within communities, academic institutions, and community-based organizations. In turn, these networks support BHW's strategic priorities to increase diversity and distribution among health professionals, enhance health care quality, and improve health care delivery to rural and underserved areas and populations. Awardees must establish and maintain community-based training programs with an emphasis on primary care in off-campus rural and underserved areas. The AHEC Program consists of two phases:
- Infrastructure Development (ID); and
- Point of Service Maintenance and Enhancement (POSME).
The Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) improves the health of underserved and vulnerable populations by strengthening the health workforce and connecting skilled professionals to communities in need. The AHEC Program supports the following three (3) overarching goals:
- Diversity: Preparing a diverse, culturally competent primary care workforce representative of the communities we serve;
- Distribution: Improving workforce distribution throughout the nation, particularly among rural and underserved areas and populations; and
- Practice Transformation: Developing and maintaining a health care workforce that is prepared to deliver high quality care in a transforming health care delivery system with an emphasis on rural and underserved areas and communities.
The AHEC Program contributes toward the HRSA mission to increase access to care for underserved individuals and communities through their academic and community partnerships that create training opportunities for health professions students and health care professionals. The AHEC Programs must carry out the following activities:
- Develop and implement strategies to recruit individuals from underrepresented minority populations and from disadvantaged and rural backgrounds into health professions, and support such individuals in attaining such careers
- Develop and implement strategies to foster and provide community-based training and education to individuals seeking careers in health professions within underserved areas for the purpose of developing and maintaining a diverse health care workforce that is prepared to deliver high-quality primary care in underserved areas or for health disparity populations, in collaboration with other Federal, State, and local health care workforce development agencies and programs in health care safety net sites
- Conduct and participate in interdisciplinary training that involves physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, dentists, psychologists, pharmacists, optometrists, community health workers (CHW), public and allied health professionals, or other health professionals, as practicable
- Facilitate continuing education and information dissemination for health care professionals, with an emphasis on providing care in underserved areas and for health disparity populations
- Propose and implement effective program and outcomes measurement and evaluation strategies; and
- Establish a youth public health program to expose and recruit high school students into health careers, with a focus on careers in public health.
Applicants are encouraged to select and address one of HHS's and HRSA's clinical priorities below.
- Enhancing health equity and reducing health disparities
- Diversifying the health workforce
- Ending the crisis of opioid addiction and overdose in America
- Improving behavioral/mental health access and care
- Transforming the health care system through value-based care delivery and quality improvement initiatives
- Transforming the workforce – by targeting the need • Strengthening health care access through telehealth
- Preventing and reducing maternal mortality • Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
The AHEC Program exists in two phases: AHEC Infrastructure Development (ID) and AHEC Point of Service Maintenance and Enhancement (POSME). These two phases collectively embrace the goal of increasing the number of students in the health professions who will pursue careers in primary care and are prepared to practice in rural and underserved areas and populations. Total award amounts depend upon the number of centers approved for the AHEC ID and POSME phases.
All AHEC Programs start in the ID phase, where the planning must reflect the projected growth of the project to include the resulting number of anticipated centers at the conclusion of the expansion period. The amount of time in the ID phase is limited to six (6) years for a center and a total of twelve (12) years for the AHEC Program (for complete statutory information regarding the establishment of an AHEC. HRSA expects that throughout the ID and POSME phases the programmatic approaches and activities detailed in this NOFO will be accomplished and outcomes will be documented.
Approximately $28,400,000.00 was available in total funding for 2017. 55 awards were made. Awards ranged from $103,000 per center in the POSME phase and $250,000 per center in the ID phase. Project period was 5 years beginning on September 1, 2017.
In the past, AHEC programs addressed the statutory requirements of the program through a broad array of activities. The AHEC Program awardees addressed the immediate needs of their service areas, which allowed for a high degree of individuality; however, the variation among programs made it challenging to measure the collective impact of the program nationally. HRSA has identified several evidence-based practices and promising approaches established through previous AHEC awards and is driving future investments to scale-up these approaches. This effort is aimed at helping HRSA and the AHEC community achieve a more sustainable, long-term impact.
Specifically, the AHEC Program will achieve the overarching Program Goals and the statutory requirements through the following required activities. Successful applicants must ensure that all activities conform to these requirements.