Teaching Health CentersAHEC TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MEETING

April 14, 2011

Kristin Guardino, Project OfficerDepartment of Health and Human Services

Health Resources and Services AdministrationBureau of Health Professions

Affordable Care Act Teaching Health Center Authorization

• Sec. 5508 of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, “Increasing Teaching Capacity”

• Components• Section 749A (Title VII), “Teaching Health Centers

Development Grants”• Section 338C(a), “National Health Service Corps Teaching

Capacity”• Section 340H (Title III), “Payments to Qualified Teaching Health

Centers”

THC Program Impact

• Help address primary care workforce• THC model has a long history with several

successful THCs dating back to the 1980s (Engebretsen 1989, Zweifler 1993)

• Increased likelihood of THC graduates choosing to practice in HCs/other underserved settings (Morris 2008, Rieselbach 2010)

Common Elements of Successful THCs

• Commitment to a dual mission of medical education and service to underserved

• Significant patient- and community-based input into THC operation and management

• Demonstrated progress toward innovative models of patient care delivery

What is a Teaching Health Center?

• “Community-based, ambulatory patient care setting”• FQHCs/FQHC Look-Alikes• Community mental health clinics• IHS or tribal health centers• Title X clinics

What is a Teaching Health Center?

• “Operates a primary care residency program,” which, per the statute, includes:• Family medicine • Internal medicine• Pediatrics• Medicine-pediatrics• Obstetrics-gynecology• Psychiatry• General and pediatric dentistry• Geriatrics

What is a Teaching Health Center?

• Must be listed as the institutional sponsor by the relevant accrediting body:

• Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)

• American Osteopathic Association (AOA)• Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)

• Must be accredited or provisionally accredited at time of application

Residency – CHC Partnerships

Residency Advantages:

• Supports increased supply of primary care physicians committed to the underserved: • minority and high risk groups• rural, urban, global settings

• Community-based “real life” setting• Financial stability with enhanced reimbursement• Potential partner for other community activities (community-

based research, medical homes)

Residency – CHC Partnerships

Health Center Advantages:• Academic environment encourages evidence-based, exemplary

practice• Teaching often improves job satisfaction, encourages retention• Academic affiliation enhances image with patients, employees

and funders• Ultimately, perhaps the best solution to workforce issues

- Those who teach in HCs tend to stay there- Those who train in HCs tend to choose

underserved settings

Traditional GME Model

Community Training SiteCommunity Training Site

Teaching Hospital/ Academic Health

Center (inpatient)

Residency Program(continuity clinic)

Medicare GME $

Accreditation

THC Model

Community Training SitesCommunity

Training Sites Hospital/ AHC

Hospital/ AHC

Medicare GME $

HRSA GME $Accreditation

Teaching HealthCenter

Residency

CHC

Corporate Entities

• Corporate entities may also be eligible THCs• e.g. a GME consortium collaborating with a

health center and hospital in operating one or more primary care GME program

• Must ensure that the community based ambulatory training site is a central partner in the consortium

• THCGME payments must directly support the THC ambulatory training site

GME Payments to THC

• Public Health Service Act Title III, Part D• Payments made for direct and indirect expenses to

qualified teaching health centers that are listed as the sponsoring institutions by the relevant accrediting body

• May only be used for the costs of new residents in a newly-established THC or an expanded number of residents in a pre-existing THC

GME Payments to THC

• Funding is in addition to existing Medicare GME

• Do not count against hospital caps• Do not include hospital time

GME Payments to THC

• FY 2011-2015 Appropriation:• Up to $230 million• Direct (DME) + Indirect (IME)

• DME = Amount per FTE X # FTEs• IME = To be determined

Fiscal Year 2011 THCGME Awardees

1) Valley Consortium for Medical Education – Modesto, CA2) Family Residency of Idaho – Boise, ID3) Northwestern McGaw Erie Family Health Center – Chicago, IL4) Penobscot Community Health Center – Bangor, ME5) Greater Lawrence Family Health Center – Lawrence, MA6) Montana Family Medicine Residency – Billings, MT7) Institute for Family Health – New York, NY8) Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education – Scranton, PA9) Lone Star Community Health Center – Conroe, TX10) Community Health of Central Washington – Yakima, WA11) Community Health Systems – Beckley, WV

When is the next opportunity to apply?

• FY 2012 Funding Opportunity Announcement release date – TBD

• Payments for expenses incurred in FY12• Technical Assistance calls prior to

application deadline

Contact Information

Kristin GuardinoProject Officer,

Division of Medicine & DentistryBureau of Health Professions

kguardino@hrsa.gov301-443-0337