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Project Name: Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program (U77)
Applicant Title: University Of Alabama At Birmingham
Abstract Text: Project Title: Alabama Statewide AHEC Program Applicant Organization: The University of Alabama at Birmingham (a public non-profit accredited school of osteopathic medicine), School of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine Project Director: Michael Faircloth, MD Address: 930 20th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35205 P: xxx-xxx-xxxx; F: xxx-xxx-xxxx Email: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx The purpose of this project is to increase diversity among health professionals, broaden the distribution of the health workforce, enhance the quality of care, and improve health care delivery to rural and underserved populations in Alabama. This will be accomplished through the continued development of our five established Centers all in the point of service maintenance and enhancement phase. The overarching goal of the Alabama AHEC during this project period is to increase the number of students in health professions who pursue careers in primary care and are prepared to practice in rural and underserved areas of Alabama. Alabama ranked 49th in health outcomes among all states in 2021. Fifty-four (81 percent) of Alabama’s 67 counties are rural and all 67 are designated as medically underserved. A total of 63 counties have primary care health professional shortage area (HPSA) designations. Access to mental and dental health fares no better with 66 counties designated as both dental health and mental health HPSAs. The state’s top 40 fastest growing occupations between 2014-2024 include 17 health-related professions, and the projections show a cumulative need in Alabama for 5,815 new positions every year until 2024. Over the next five-year funding period, the Alabama Statewide AHEC Program will continue to enhance strategic partnerships with other health professions schools within UAB and across the state and with multiple community organizations and stakeholders as well as the Southeast Regional AHEC Learning Collaborative. Our clinical focus area is Enhancing health equity and reducing health disparities. We will accomplish the following objectives designed to address Bureau of Health Workforce’s program goals of diversity, distribution and practice transformation: 1. Identify opportunities for the further development of the Alabama Statewide AHEC Program that covers all 67 counties of the state with five (5) community-based AHEC Centers. 2. Enhance the co-curricular experiences of the AHEC Scholars Program that prepares a diverse, culturally competent group of health professions students for recruitment into primary care and practice in rural or underserved areas of Alabama. 3. Facilitate community-based experiential training of health professions students in rural and underserved areas of Alabama to improve workforce distribution. 4. Cultivate partnerships to prepare underrepresented minority, rural, and other disadvantaged Alabama youth for careers in the health professions, including public health. 5. Support continuing education for practicing health professionals in Alabama on the core topic areas of interprofessional education/team-based practice, behavioral health integration, connecting communities and supporting health professionals, virtual learning and telehealth, social determinants of health, cultural competency, practice transformation, and selected current and emerging health issues. 6. Enhance and assess the comprehensive, outcome-focused evaluation of the Alabama Statewide AHEC Program and activities. 7. Increase and strengthen partnerships with preceptors and communities to improve workforce distribution in rural and underserved areas. Program impact will be measured longitudinally and include an evaluation of the diversity (race/ethnicity, sex, disadvantaged and rural status, health professions discipline), distribution (rural/underserved areas, numbers of counties impacted), and ability to deliver high quality care of AHEC program completers. Grant funds of $3,783,839 is requested.