While state funding remained flat this year, we were able to continue expanding existing programs and positioning ourselves for healthcare reform due to additional funds from partner hospitals and federal grants. Specific accomplishments include: 

• Received approval for 4 federal Primary Care Expansion Grants enabling us to increase the number of first year slots from 44 to 52 across the AHEC network of family medicine residency programs (FMRPs).
• Dr. Robert Price and his team were successful in obtaining a residency training grant on chronic disease management in all of our FMRPs, positioning us to become Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMH).
• AHECs have been implementing necessary IT components including e-prescribing, a disease registry, and a patient portal in order to meet PCMH accreditation criteria and meaningful use criteria.
• Working collaboratively with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Patricia Vannatta, MSPH was successful in obtaining a federal pre-doctoral training grant to expand first and second year medical student offerings. Specifically, we will offer a service-learning preceptorship that will take place in the summer between the first and second year, total eight (8) weeks of effort, and expose students to communities in Arkansas where they will perform service projects. We will continue our current 4 week preceptorship, but will add a curriculum to it. A community practice learning collaborative will be implemented for first and second year students who will be assigned to family medicine mentors in the community to gain early clinical experience. We will also host lectures and discussions on campus to keep students focused on a career in family medicine and rural practice. Additionally, the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine will be restructuring the required third year family medicine clerkship to improve the curriculum and will work with the UAMS Marketing Department to promote careers in family medicine to medical students.
• Received a one-year extension on our model AHEC Grant, funding pre-health recruiters, community outreach, IT (e-prescribing), research and continuing education activities. We are in the process of applying for a new Point-of-Service Maintenance and Enhancement AHEC grant for next year.
• Two of our AHECs (West and South Central) have hired a nurse practitioner to provide clinical services and to expand nurse practitioner training.
• Work continues with the Center on Clinical and Translational Research (CCTR) regarding community engagement initiatives. Dr. Price and his team are revitalizing our practice-based research network (PBRN) and supporting research projects in the AHECs and in the PBRN.
• We successfully kicked off our faculty development fellowship with two AHEC faculty.
• We were successful financially in achieving a 3% margin for the campus.

    Healthcare reform remains a major topic of conversation. A recent focus group of hospital CEOs indicated a need for more education about accountable care organizations, PCMH, and the Governor’s partnerships. The Governor’s plan for restructuring healthcare in Arkansas has stimulated a great deal of discussion in the AHECs and with colleagues and stakeholders in rural health. The Center for Rural Health, under the direction of Dr. Ann Bynum, conducted a retreat in June to gain more information about these new models of care.
    I want to celebrate the career of Holly Eaton, who officially retired in October of last year after 20 years of outstanding service as Executive Assistant to myself and Mr. Bud McFadin. Holly was a remarkable asset to our program and shall be greatly missed. We wish her a fond farewell.
    While the future remains unclear, I feel the AHEC Network is positioning itself to do well when new models of care are instituted. We remain committed to our patients, rural Arkansas, training high-quality healthcare professionals and providing high-quality clinical services to our patients.

Mark B. Mengel, MD, MPH
Vice Chancellor, Regional Programs
Executive Director, AHEC Program