Investments in Community Health Centers May Improve the Economy Along with Health
Dr. Whelan was joined by Daniel Hawkins, Jr. of the National Association of Community Health Centers, Rebecca Keen-Fan Sze of the Wang Community Health Center and Stephanie Kenyon of the Loudoun Community Health Center for what I consider to be an enlightening discussion of the role of community health centers in the current American healthcare system and its changing role during the current age of health care reform.
What Should Be the Vision for the Future of Academic Medical Centers
AMCs are vital to our health care system because they educate the next generation of health care and biomedical research professionals, they receive the majority of extramural funds allocated for basic science and applied research, and ultimately, they nurture the expertise to successfully treat and sometimes cure the medical maladies that plague us. These nonprofit organizations serve a disproportionate share of lower-income and uninsured patients in addition to individuals whose illnesses have the greatest degree of medical complexity. In his introduction, Dr. Mark McClellan of the Brookings Institution observed that members of the Council of Teaching Hospitals and Health Systems provide 41% of all charity care, receive 56% of all NIH extramural awards (along with AAMC medical schools), and train 76% of all residents physicians.
