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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Asha Subramanian, MD, MPH¹, Kim Bullock, MD¹, A. Seiji Hayashi, MD, MPH², and Jay Siwek, MD¹. (1) Department of Family Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, 215 Kober Cogan, 3750 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007, 202 687 1600, kimabullock@hotmail.com, (2) Department of Prevention and Community Health, George Washington University School of Public Health, 2175 K Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037

Community health centers (CHCs) depend on physicians committed to serving the medically underserved, ensuring human rights through access to care. CHC physicians, however, often find themselves thrust into administrative positions with little training to manage the clinic's personnel, budget, accreditation, quality assurance, and ever-changing policies and regulations. The one-year Fellowship in Community Health Center Director Development was created to enhance access to care through the training of family physicians to succeed as medical directors in CHCs. Methods: The fellowship is a partnership between an academic department of family medicine (Georgetown University), a nonprofit community health center system (Unity Health Care), a national policy and advocacy organization (National Association of Community Health Centers), and a national clinician support and advocacy organization (Association of Clinicians for the Underserved). Fellows receive practical experience and training in CHC management, policy and advocacy, faculty development, leadership, clinical care and evidence-based health care. Projects to increase health care access and quality are incorporated into the program. Results: 6 fellows have completed the program (2000 – 2005) and all have assumed leadership roles in community health centers and academic institutions. The partnerships have remained stable. Conclusion: The program has been a great success but goes beyond the training and placement of physicians in leadership positions. The partnership has allowed each organization to draw resources from each other to enhance programs or develop new ones. Future areas of expansion include modifying the current fellowship into a community health leadership fellowship in order to further address health care disparities.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe a model program for addressing workforce development through training future directors of community health centers, including the program goals/objectives and activities to achieve them.
• Recognize the academic-community partnerships necessary to replicate such a program.
• Identify and describe the potential problems and issues related to sustaining the program.

Keywords: Public Health Administration, Workforce

Related Web page: gumc.georgetown.edu/departments/familymed/fellowships/communityhealthcenterdirectordevelopment.html

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: none

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation