http://www.aahcdc.org/ WASHINGTON, December 14 – Congressional leaders must ensure that health reform includes a health workforce planning body with sufficient authority to ensure implementation of an integrated, coordinated national health workforce policy, according to Dr. Steven A. Wartman, president and CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC). “With each step in the legislative process, the Congress has progressed toward a more effective health workforce planning process,” Wartman said. “Still missing from both House and Senate bills is a mechanism -- such as national health workforce commission recommendations that automatically go into effect unless overridden by Congress -- to ensure timely implementation of the recommendations,” added Wartman, urging Congress to address this concern before finalizing the legislation. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease12_14_09.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease12_14_09.pdf WASHINGTON, July 14 - The Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) announces the launch of HealthPROSe, a blog by seasoned health and policy professionals that can provide a new and trusted voice on health policy and related socioeconomic issues. HealthPROSe brings creative thinking to the health debate with engaging, focused commentaries on national and global health policy concerns. Those blog audiences who are not only interested in exchanging ideas, but also in gaining an understanding of how the nation’s health system operates and the academic health center infrastructure supports the delivery of the nation’s health care services, will want to visit and comment often. HealthPROSe breaks new ground as its authors address health professions education, biomedical research, and the integrated nature of health care delivery, and as they call for strategic thinking and look to long-term solutions for health issues. AAHC President and CEO Steven A. Wartman, MD, PhD, MACP, and AAHC Vice President for Policy and Program Elaine Rubin, PhD, offer reporters, policymakers, and the public credible information and sound commentary and analysis as they address the significant connections of the health workforce and biomedical research with health care delivery today. HealthPROSe can be read at: http://www.healthprose.org. The AAHC is a national non-profit association dedicated to advancing the nation’s health and wellbeing through the vigorous leadership of academic health centers. http://www.acadhlthctrs.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease07_14_09.pdf http://www.acadhlthctrs.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease07_14_09.pdf WASHINGTON, April 23 - Health workforce reform is a crucial element of health system reform, the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) told the White House this week. “We must change health workforce policy now to ensure we are ready to meet the numerous workforce challenges presented by system reforms when they take effect,” said AAHC President Dr. Steven Wartman in a letter to the Administration’s health policy advisors. “Our nation’s patchwork health workforce policymaking is on the verge of being overwhelmed by rapidly intensifying social and economic pressures, which will be further magnified by health system reform,” Wartman asserted. Wartman cited the deteriorating condition of the nation’s health workforce, detailed by the AAHC in its major report, Out of Order, Out of Time: The State of the Nation’s Health Workforce. Wartman stressed that the Obama Administration must respond to these conditions with a “new and dynamic vision for the health workforce infrastructure,” make the health workforce a priority health reform issue, and create a new, collaborative, multistakeholder health workforce planning body with a mission “to develop and implement comprehensive and coordinated national health workforce policy.” Declaring the AAHC’s commitment to work with the Administration and other policymakers to successfully implement health system reform, Wartman nevertheless cautioned that, “Health system reform will not be successful unless it is accompanied by comprehensive health workforce reform.” The AAHC is a national non-profit association dedicated to advancing the nation’s health and well-being through the vigorous leadership of academic health centers. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease04_23_09.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease04_23_09.pdf WASHINGTON, March 12 - Health system reform cannot be successful without simultaneously changing how the nation develops and implements health workforce policy, Dr. Steven A. Wartman, president and CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), told the Senate Finance Committee today at a hearing on Workforce Issues in Health Care Reform: Assessing the Present and Preparing for the Future. Wartman urged policymakers to “incorporate a new, integrated, and coordinated approach to national workforce policy as health system reform is considered.” Wartman presented the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of AAHC’s groundbreaking report, Out of Order, Out of Time: The State of the Nation’s Health Workforce, noting the critical relationship of workforce issues to any reform proposals. Wartman called attention to many aspects of current health workforce policy that are “out of order,” including inadequate access to primary care and shortages in many health professions, and detailed why the nation is running “out of time” to change course. More ... http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease03_12_09.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease03_12_09.pdf WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 - The Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) continues to have a significant negative impact on the scope, pace, and costs of research, according to The HIPAA Privacy Rule: Lacks Patient Benefit, Impedes Research Growth, the latest report of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC). The report is based on findings from a questionnaire sent to vice presidents for research and principal investigators at academic health centers nationwide. The survey included questions on research administration and processes; multi-site research; research using specific data sources; and subject recruitment. Findings from the report reveal that researchers have difficulty recruiting participants and that the Rule creates barriers to diversity in research studies. Such events are fundamentally changing the conduct of research and threatening the scientific credibility of future research. More... http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease01_23_09.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease01_23_09.pdf WASHINGTON April 20. AAHC writes to Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, Special Advisor to the Director for Health Policy Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President, to discuss the urgent need for comprehensive and coordinated health workforce planning. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/HWF_Zeke_Emanuel_letter_4_20_09.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/HWF_Zeke_Emanuel_letter_4_20_09.pdf WASHINGTON, January 21. AAHC writes to Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel and Ranking Member Dave Camp urging caution on including privacy requirements in the health information technology provisions of the stimulus package http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/Ways_and_Means_Privacy_letter_January_2009.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/Ways_and_Means_Privacy_letter_January_2009.pdf WASHINGTON, January 21. AAHC writes to Secretary Designee Senator Daschle, Acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems on the need to reform the clinical trial policy and change administrative structures at CMS to address research http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/121508_CMS_Letter_Weems.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/121508_CMS_Letter_Weems.pdf WASHINGTON, Oct. 21—Nancy W. Dickey, MD, president of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and vice chancellor for health affairs for the Texas A&M University System, has been named chair of the board of directors of the Association of Academic Health Centers. A former dean and current professor of family and community medicine in the college of medicine, Dr. Dickey is past president of the American Medical Association and founding program director of the Family Practice Residency of the Brazos Valley. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Scott & White Hospital Foundation, and has served on the National Institutes of Health’s Advisory Council on Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Dickey is also a member of the Institute of Medicine. She holds five honorary doctoral degrees, including a Doctor of Science from the University of Massachusetts and a Doctor of Laws from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Dickey is editor-in-chief of the patient education segment of Medem, an Internet-based patientphysician interface, and editor of The Journal of Patient Safety. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease10_21_08.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease10_21_08.pdf WASHINGTON, September 19 – The Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) today released Managing Emergency Preparedness: Academic Health Centers Organize and Innovate, a brief guide to enhancing institutional, system-wide approaches to emergency response. The brochure provides recommendations on effective ways academic health centers can manage operations and systems to help ensure that institutions, communities, and policymakers can respond to an array of emergencies, including natural disasters and bioterrorism. It also highlights the importance of academic health center resources, and how integration of functions makes a significant difference in the event of an emergency. Leaders of academic health centers and experienced emergency response experts contributed to the brochure, which provides specific suggestions on fundamental imperatives such as establishing leadership teams, coordinating an organization-wide emergency preparedness plan, and facilitating communication. In light of the critical need to safeguard major university resources, the guide also highlights priorities for protection of life, equipment, and property – including a short checklist to help secure and protect the research enterprise. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease09_19_08.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease09_19_08.pdf WASHINGTON, July 21 - The Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) today launched a new Clinical Trials Administration Toolkit designed to assist academic health center leaders, research administrators, and chief compliance officers in establishing, strengthening, and improving the administrative infrastructure for the research enterprise, particularly to manage and support compliance functions for clinical trials. “The toolkit is an innovative, yet practical, step-by-step guide to analyze and improve clinical trials administration,” said AAHC President Dr. Steven A. Wartman, adding, “At a time when the research enterprise is being transformed, the leadership must align policies, people, and processes to manage the administrative and financial risks of clinical research and ensure compliance.” The toolkit is divided into 10 easy-to-follow steps that lead the user from self-assessment of current administrative processes and operations to examination of integral organizational structures for optimal institutional practices and policies. Academic health center leaders as well as the multiple stakeholders engaged in clinical trial activities—from research to billing—can identify critical information, tackle major hot spots, and strengthen institutional policies to achieve a high-performing clinical research enterprise. “This valuable toolkit will help all users assess and leverage resources to maximize and align organizational strengths and manage effective operations for this critically important research area,” according to Dr. Wartman. The toolkit is the culmination of groundbreaking work of the AAHC’s Forum on Regulation, the executive leadership group comprising chief compliance officers of academic health centers nationwide, which is dedicated to fostering the development of appropriate regulatory compliance frameworks for universities and the nation. http://www.aahcdc.org/toolkit/ http://www.aahcdc.org/toolkit/ WASHINGTON, July 17 - Without immediate action to develop an integrated, comprehensive, national health workforce policy, the U.S. is at risk of losing its status as the global health care leader, states a new report released by the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC, www.aahcdc.org). The report was funded in part by the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. Out of Order, Out of Time: The State of the Nation’s Health Workforce warns that the nation is running out of time to ensure an adequate health workforce to meet the needs of our aging population, such as the increased demand for health services and other critical socioeconomic challenges for health care. “It is essential that the nation take a critical look at its policymaking framework that has created a system for the health workforce that may no longer be adaptable to changing national health needs,” said AAHC President and CEO Dr. Steven A. Wartman. “We also need action because the workforce plays such a pivotal role in biomedical research and science as well as in the U.S. economy and jobs creation,” he added. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/workforce.php http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/workforce.php WASHINGTON, April 25. AAHC Discusses Building Academic Health Center Infrastructure Worldwide http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/meetinghighlights/spring08/index.php http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/meetinghighlights/spring08/index.php WASHINGTON, April 2. “Academic health centers, both established and under development, may well determine a major part of the future course of countries around the globe,” Dr. Steven A. Wartman, president and CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), told academic health center leaders from the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Mideast at the AAHC’s 2008 International Forum in Washington this week. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease04_02_08.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease04_02_08.pdf WASHINGTON, Mar. 12 - AAHC urges senate to support the amendment to the FY 2009 Budget Resolution (S. Con.Res. 70) offered by Senators Specter and Harkin to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $2.1 billion. This increased funding is critical to the nation’s biomedical research enterprise. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/NIH_Funding_Support_Senate_3_12_08.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/NIH_Funding_Support_Senate_3_12_08.pdf WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 - A new assessment tool designed to improve or enhance administration and management of clinical research in academic health centers is detailed in The Transformational Curve: A Management Tool for Clinical Research Structures, the latest publication by the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC). The tool, described by the authors as one way to “create a strong and sustainable infrastructure to support the academic health center research mission,” can assist academic health center leaders to: (1) track organizational progress in identifying risks and weaknesses in clinical research infrastructure; (2) assess and align organizational strengths; (3) review and analyze organizational resources; and (4) identify the vital elements needed to advance the quality of clinical research and create the optimal state for administrative operations at the institution... http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease02_28_08.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease02_28_08.pdf WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 - AAHC expresses strong concern about the new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) modifiers for billing patient care in clinical research studies. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/CMS_letter_feb_5_08_modifiers.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/CMS_letter_feb_5_08_modifiers.pdf WASHINGTON, Feb.5 — The Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) has issued strong objections to President Bush’s FY2009 budget for both biomedical research and the health workforce. The AAHC believes the FY 2009 budget reflects some poor choices for the nation for the next year while potentially setting a hazardous course for the future. “The President’s FY 2009 budget does little to sustain the nation’s preeminence in science and even less to enable us to compete in the growing global research marketplace given the flat funding provided for the National Institutes of Health (NIH),” said AAHC President Dr. Steven Wartman. “Much of our future economy depends on the discoveries generated by today’s competitive research funding of the nation’s universities that translate discoveries into technologies and products to improve health and well-being. This is simply not the time to erode the base of the biomedical research enterprise with ill-conceived spending decisions,” Wartman asserted. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/FY_2009_Budget.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/FY_2009_Budget.pdf WASHINGTON, November 14 - “This is not the time to undermine the health and educational infrastructure that is vitally important to sustain the nation for the future,” said Dr. Steven A. Wartman, president and CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers in response to President Bush’s veto of the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill yesterday. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease11_14_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease11_14_07.pdf WASHINGTON, October 23 –Read The Clinical Trials Landscape: Limitations, Strengths, and Promise. This latest report from the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), provides an overview of the infrastructure for clinical trials in the U.S. and a blueprint for action to improve and enhance clinical trials administration in academic health centers nationwide. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reddot/AAHC_Limitations_Strengths_and_Promise.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reddot/AAHC_Limitations_Strengths_and_Promise.pdf WASHINGTON, October 23 –The Clinical Trials Landscape: Limitations, Strengths, and Promise, the latest report from the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), provides an overview of the infrastructure for clinical trials in the U.S. and a blueprint for action to improve and enhance clinical trials administration in academic health centers nationwide. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease10_23_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease10_23_07.pdf WASHINGTON, October 15, 2007 - Association of Academic Health Centers Names University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Arthur H. Rubenstein Chairman of The Board of Directors. http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease10_15_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/news/files/AAHCPressRelease10_15_07.pdf WASHINGTON, September 4 - The AAHC Signs a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, to urge an increase in the aggregate combined Stafford loan limit for health professions students http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/2007_Group_Stafford_letter.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/2007_Group_Stafford_letter.pdf WASHINGTON, August 20 - Dr. Steven Wartman writes about the importance of integration across the academic health center in a new AAHC report, The Academic Health Center: Evolving Organizational Models http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reddot/AAHC_Evolving_Organizational_Models.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reddot/AAHC_Evolving_Organizational_Models.pdf WASHINGTON, August 20 - 21 responses to an AAHC questionnaire provide a snapshot of clinical trial activities and changing structures at academic health centers. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reddot/AAHC_The_Clinical_Trials_Landscape.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reddot/AAHC_The_Clinical_Trials_Landscape.pdf WASHINGTON, August 17 - AAHC emphasizes and expands on a number of issues raised in its earlier comment letter on the Proposed Decision Memorandum for the Clinical Research Policy (CAG-00071R2). http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/CMS_Comment_8_16_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/CMS_Comment_8_16_07.pdf WASHINGTON, August 8 - The AAHC offers its comments on the Proposed Decision Memorandum for the Clinical Research Policy (CAG-00071R2), issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on July 19, 2007. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/CMS_Comment_8_6_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/CMS_Comment_8_6_07.pdf WASHINGTON, July 9 - Worsening faculty shortages in academic health centers are threatening the nation’s health professions educational infrastructure, according to the latest report by the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC). Based on a questionnaire of AAHC members – the CEOs of academic health centers nationwide – the report found that 94 percent of CEOs think faculty shortages are a problem in at least one health professions school, and 69 percent think that these shortages are a problem for the entire institution. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/pressreleases/AAHCPressRelease07_09_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/pressreleases/AAHCPressRelease07_09_07.pdf Worsening faculty shortages in academic health centers are threatening the nation’s health professions educational infrastructure, according to chief executives of academic health centers nationwide. Academic health centers train a major portion of the nation’s health workforce in professions including allied health, dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, and veterinary medicine. A crisis looms: without enough faculty members to teach the next generation of health professionals, the nation’s health infrastructure is in jeopardy. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reports/AAHC_Faculty_Shortages.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reports/AAHC_Faculty_Shortages.pdf Arecurring issue in efforts to facilitate the sharing of research information and technology is intellectual property (IP) bundling, or the aggregation of intellectual property across multiple institutions for the purpose of licensing to outside parties. Bundling arrangements can be formed to address hold-ups resulting from patent-related problems or to combine complementary technologies in order to create new opportunities for commercialization. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reports/AAHC_Intellectual_Property.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/reports/AAHC_Intellectual_Property.pdf WASHINGTON, June 26 - AAHC President Wartman thanked Sen. Kennedy and Rep. Obey this week for their work to delay the issuance of any new regulations on accreditation from the U.S. Department of Education until after the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Sec. Spelling was preparing to issue regulations that would have extended federal control over many accrediting agencies we well as established federal regulations over transfer of credits. A transformation of this magnitude requires much more deliberation and input from the academic community than has been elicited to date, said Dr. Wartman. http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/Letter_Kennedy_6_26_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/policy/letters/Letter_Kennedy_6_26_07.pdf Listen to Dr. Jeffrey Balser, Vanderbilt University On Intellectual Property In Academic Health Centers and Dr. Dr. Arthur S. Levine, University of Pittsburgh, Discusses Challenges to Research. http://www.aahcdc.org/audio/?episode=78 http://www.aahcdc.org/audio/?episode=78 WASHINGTON, June 13 - The Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC) writes to Senator Benjamin L. Cardin to express support for S. 1519, the Voluntary Medicare Quality Reporting Act of 2007, which proposes a thoughtful and prudent approach to crafting a quality measurement system for physicians providing care to Medicare beneficiaries. http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHC_Senator_Cardin_Letter.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHC_Senator_Cardin_Letter.pdf WASHINGTON, May 29 - The latest report from the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), State Actions and the Health Workforce Crisis, finds that states lack comprehensive and coordinated long-term planning for the health workforce and thus are ill-prepared to address an emerging national health workforce crisis. http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHCPressRelease05_29_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHCPressRelease05_29_07.pdf AAHC President and CEO, Dr Steven Wartman writes to Representatives Jerry Lewis and David Obey to support biomedical research, health care workforce and rural health care programs. http://www.aahcdc.org/files/Letter_Lewis_Obey_5_17_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/files/Letter_Lewis_Obey_5_17_07.pdf AAHC President and CEO, Dr Steven Wartman addresses health professions graduates about their future. With emphasis on the fact that taking care of patients is always personal, Dr Wartman encourages graduates to keep the values of humanism and care at the center of their careers. http://www.aahcdc.org/audio/?episode=5 http://www.aahcdc.org/audio/?episode=5 WASHINGTON, May 15 - To respond to a concurrent increase in the number of clinical trials, an expanded regulatory environment, and the ever-present need to ensure safe and effective clinical trials for patients nationwide, academic health centers are allocating increasing amounts of funds to infrastructure, personnel, and IT systems to administer and manage clinical trials and the associated compliance functions, according to a statement by the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC). http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHCPressRelease05_15_07.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHCPressRelease05_15_07.pdf The AAHC offers several concerns it believes should be addressed before issuing the final CRP. http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHC_May_2007_CMS_Comments.pdf http://www.aahcdc.org/files/AAHC_May_2007_CMS_Comments.pdf Discussions by Congressional Representatives and Executive branch representatives also included topics important to academic health centers, such as research funding, rural health, health professions education, and economic development. AAHC’s first International Forum included the ministers of health from Singapore and India, accompanied by their delegations.There was discussion about developments in these Asian countries and critical perspectives on globalization in the health arena were offered. http://www.aahcdc.org/mt/springdialogues07/index.php http://www.aahcdc.org/mt/springdialogues07/index.php