The AHEC Mission :

To enhance access to quality health care, particularly primary and preventive care, by improving the supply and distribution of health care professionals through community/academic educational partnerships.

Growth of the AHEC Network:

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. Through a combination of federal, state, and local funding, medical schools and local partners established regional AHEC Centers that, in turn, fostered collaboration between academic health centers and community organizations.

PA AHEC:

The Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center Program was established in 1994. The program is based at Pennsylvania State University ’s College of Medicine and complemented through seven regional centers. Each AHEC center is advised and governed by a local group comprising health professionals, educators, business leaders, legislators, and a variety of consumer organizations. Funding is provided by the Department of Health and Human Services Administration, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The Commonwealth’s medical community and communities at large provide additional support.

Key AHEC Program Contributions:

1. Developing and supporting community-based interdisciplinary training of health professions students in underserved areas.

• Impact – Exposing students to underserved communities increases the likelihood that they will return to these communities to practice.

2.   Providing continuing education and other services to improve the quality of community-based care.

• Impact – Improving quality of care enhances retention of providers in underserved communities.

3.   Recruiting under-represented minority and disadvantaged students into health professions through a broad range of programs.

• Impact – Minority and disadvantaged students are significantly under-represented in health professions and are more likely to practice in underserved communities.
• Facilitating and supporting practitioners, facilities and community-based   organizations in effectively addressing critical local health issues.
• Impact – AHEC’s are a flexible and efficient mechanism for addressing a wide and evolving variety of health care issues on the local level.

National impact of AHECs during the 2003-2004 grant year:

Training Health Professions Students - AHECs:

• Recruited and maintained more than 19,000 community-based training sites and nearly 16,000 community faculty preceptors – primarily physicians – for student training.
• Placed over 31,000 health professions students in medically underserved communities.
• Trained nearly 141,000 health professions students in primary care and other disciplines.

Recruiting Young People into Health Careers - AHECs:

• Introduced nearly 125,000 students to health careers.
• Provided more than 775,000 hours of programming in high schools.
• Better prepared nearly 39,000 high school students from underserved areas and under-represented populations for health careers.

Provided Continuing Education – AHECs:

• Offered continuing education programs to over 311,000 health care professionals in a broad range of topics including cultural competence, public health preparedness, and emerging health care issues.

A Vital Continuing Role for AHECs

Distortions in our health care system result in marked inequities in access to and quality of health care services, which are reflected in unacceptable racial and ethnic disparities in health status and the under-representation of minority and disadvantaged individuals in the health workforce. AHEC programs play a key role in correcting these inequities and strengthening the nation’s health care safely net. Through community-based interdisciplinary training programs, AHECs identify, motivate, recruit, train, and retain a health care workforce committed to underserved populations.