NC AHEC 2022-23 Year in Review

YEAR-IN-REVIEW 2022-23

Table of Contents LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

|3

RECRUIT Health Careers & Workforce Diversity

|6

TRAIN Student Services Graduate Medical Education Continuing Professional Development

|8 | 10 | 12

RETAIN Practice Support Library & Information Services

| 14 | 16

STATEWIDE INITIATIVES

| 18

STRATEGIC PLANNING

| 22

AHEC Regional Directory

| 24

Letter from the Director I AM DELIGHTED to present this 2022-23 year-in-review for the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program. As we reflect on the past year, I am filled with gratitude for the outstanding work that our Program has done to recruit, train, and retain the health workforce in our state.

Through our strategic plan, the result we are seeking is for everyone in North Carolina to be healthy and supported by an appropriate and highly competent health workforce that reflects the communities it serves. Although this yearin-review highlights some of the great work done by the AHEC Program this year, there is so much more that was accomplished throughout all 100 of North Carolina’s counties.

I encourage you to reach out to anyone in the Program to learn more or if you have suggestions for how we can better accomplish our work.

I want to thank every staff member of our 9 Regional AHECs and the Duke AHEC Program for their commitment to the work of the AHEC Program, to the communities they serve and for producing the outcomes highlighted in this progress report. In the last year, we have welcomed two new Regional AHEC directors: Terry Lynn was named Executive Director of Piedmont AHEC, formerly known as Greensboro AHEC, and Joann Spaleta was named the Executive Director of South

as our new associate director of Continuing Professional Development and Elyssa Tucker as our first ever health professions student liaison. We also expanded our IT, finance, and administrative teams to fully support our new and ongoing work as we continue to grow to meet workforce needs. We welcomed Sharon Jones as our accountant, Darien Brockington as finance manager, Shayron Saunders as an administrative specialist, and Kathy Peticolas as our data analyst specialist. We also bid farewell to a few members of our Program Office team that moved forward in their career pursuits – Courtney Lewis, Suzanne Crabtree, and Harley Burns.

The impact narrated in this report can only be accomplished through effective collaboration with our partnerships with medical and other health sciences schools, hospital and health systems, and our community-based and state-level partners who have shown an unwavering commitment to our mission. We are deeply grateful for your trust and confidence in us, and we hope that you share our sense of accomplishment.

As we look ahead to the next year, we are

Piedmont AHEC, formerly known as Charlotte AHEC. Both Terry and Joann have years of experience in AHEC work and we couldn’t be more grateful for their continued leadership in their new positions.

In the Program Office, we invited Caroline Collier on board

excited to continue to leverage our programs and partnerships to increase our collective impact. We invite you to join with us to accomplish that in the important and timely work to recruit, train and retain North Carolina’s health workforce.

In December 2022, AHEC staff from across the state convened for the first time in four years at an anniversary celebration event hosted by NORTHWEST AHEC in Winston-Salem.

Hugh Tilson Director, NC AHEC Program |5

PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Health Careers & Workforce Diversity

from 2022-23

We are navigators who educate and engage students, parents, educators, and community members in the exploration of opportunities in our health care workforce.

NC AHEC is committed to promoting health care careers across the state. We offer a variety of pathway programs that expose students to the range of opportunities in the health care sector and help them discover their talents and interests. We work with community partners and organizations to address the challenges and gaps in the health care workforce pipeline. We also place a continued emphasis on interprofessional education and practice work to increase recognition that team-based care improves outcomes through our programming.

6 |

More than 1,700 pre-college students participated in NC AHEC pathway programs in 2022-23. 733 of those students were from underrepresented and/or underserved populations. Traditionally underserved and/or underrepresented includes Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and/or a Hispanic ethnicity.

245

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS At WAKE AHEC, the innovative Virtual Mini Medical School was offered three times in 2022-23 and continues to be a successful program. This curriculum is designed to give students a taste of what it’s like to study medicine, covering topics like anatomy, pharmacology, cardiology, epidemiology, genetics, and more. The program is challenging and interactive; students receive a box of supplies to conduct experiments and activities along with the instructor.

Plans are in place to expand enrollment and offer inperson sessions in the next year.

Camp Med activities saw an increase in participation with students representing all 17 counties served

by NORTHWEST AHEC. At Camp Med, high school students have the opportunity to gain 20+ hours of learning to understand the health care challenges of our time and engage with a variety of health career opportunities.

Regional AHECs create a variety of meaningful experiences for students interested in exploring a career in health care. In 2022-23 more than 1,100 high school students participated in MAHEC’s health care career exploration programs, including career fairs, summer camps, and other experiential opportunities, like the inaugural Health Careers Academy.

Since 2018, NC AHEC has offered the AHEC SCHOLARS program in every North Carolina county to recruit, train, and support a diverse group of students, creating a multidisciplinary team of health professionals committed to both community service and the transformation of

health care in our state. With an emphasis on individuals from underrepresented minorities, disadvantaged and/or rural backgrounds, and first-generation college students, the program aims to improve the diversity and distribution of all health professions. This program is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Learn more.

RAKEEM YABUBU, a participant in SOUTH PIEDMONT AHEC Health Careers programming since age 14, received his white coat at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in 2023. Michelle Boyd, Director of Health Careers & Diversity, attended the ceremony with Rakeem’s family.

Over the 2023 fiscal year, 41% of NC AHEC Health Careers participants belonged to underrepresented and/or underserved populations in North Carolina. |7

Student Services

IN 2022, NC AHEC reallocated funds previously used for preceptor payments toward new investments to support community-based learning experiences for health science students.

This includes the founding of the NURSING CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR PARTNER (CIP) program (p. 13), new interprofessional education experiences, and expansion of the CONSORTIUM FOR CLINICAL EDUCATION AND PRACTICE (CCEP). See the next page to learn more!

Facilitating community-based education through student housing support and interprofessional experiences Our objective is to foster the development of future health professionals in North Carolina by facilitating their involvement in community-based clinical experiences.

These hands-on placements, known as rotations, enable health science students to apply their skills and knowledge in real-world settings, while also contributing to the health needs of our state and rural communities. To support our students in completing their rotations, we offer low-cost, temporary housing options that allow them to stay close to their clinical sites.

8 |

Each dot represents a location where AHEC housing is offered to health science students to support community-based education. In fiscal year 2023, NC AHEC captured a 22% increase in housing utilization from fiscal year 2020, returning to the average usage observed before the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUPPORTING STUDENTS THROUGH CLINICAL PLACEMENTS THE CONSORTIUM FOR CLINICAL EDUCATION AND PRACTICE (CCEP) is a dynamic and diverse network of academic and clinical partners who collaborate to support and grow the health care workforce by addressing clinical placement issues for students’ consortium-affiliated facilities. The CCEP has 14 active academic institutions and 22 active health systems, home care, and hospice institutions as its members. It is the mission of the CCEP that all health science students and faculty complete a common core orientation currently endorsed by the North Carolina Healthcare Association.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the CCEP has maintained regular meetings, either virtually or in-person. The CCEP has also welcomed new partners from various disciplines and institutions, expanding its reach and impact.

New additions to the CCEP in 2022-23 include: • • •

New Associate Director Aubrey Delaney, MPH, at WAKE AHEC A new academic program at Elon University New staff from Alamance Community

•

College, Barton College, Campbell University, ECPI University, UNC-CH School of Nursing, Wake Technical Community College, and Nash Community College New staff from Duke University Health System, Durham VAMC, Chatham Hospital, Granville Health System, Holly Hill Hospital, Maria Parham Medical Center, Nash UNC Health, and UNC Johnston Health

The CCEP also has strong connections with other regional partners, such as AREA L AHEC, Triad CCEP, and Eastern CCEP, who join the meetings and share the agenda with their respective AHECs. The CCEP is a vibrant and inclusive community that strives to enhance the quality and accessibility of health care in the Triangle area and beyond.

Regional AHECs continued to find new ways to support and celebrate students and community members through their clinical placements. In 2023, MAHEC began a new tradition: the inaugural Student Services & Housing Appreciation Dinner.

This event honored preceptors, housing providers, and administrative staff who help make the student experience special.

In the coastal plains, EASTERN AHEC led the Community-based Healthcare Education Consortium (CHEC) composed of directors from Eastern Carolina University (ECU) health science programs to collaborate on issues pertinent to student rotations in the community. In 2022-23, representation from the ECU School of Social Work was added to the consortium, as well as a special interest group in interprofessional education (IPE).

ELYSSA TUCKER, MPH, is is an active PIEDMONT AHEC Scholar (p. 7) and earned her Masters in Public Health from UNC and a graduate certificate in Ethnic & Rural Health Disparities from ECU before joining the NC AHEC Program Office.

In 2023, we welcomed Elyssa Tucker as our first statewide Health Professions Student Liaison. In her new role, Elyssa works with with regional AHECs to coordinate housing efforts for students and creates strategic plans for implementing and strengthening interprofessional experiences.

|9

Graduate Medical Education

GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION (GME)—a medical RESIDENCY—occurs after medical school, when physicians are required to complete hands-on training in their chosen specialties. Residencies can last three to seven years, depending on the physician’s chosen specialty.

Training and retaining primary care physicians for North Carolina’s rural and underserved communities NC AHEC sponsors community-based residency programs in various specialties, such as general surgery, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and psychiatry.

These programs offer residents the opportunity to train in diverse and challenging settings while also serving the needs of their local communities. NC AHEC residents are more likely to stay in North Carolina than non-AHEC residents, helping to reverse the trend toward shortages and

The GME Collaborative facilitated by NC AHEC holds quarterly meetings of Designated Institutional Officials (DIOs) and GME administrators who are responsible for overseeing the quality of GME programs. These meetings allow GME professionals in our state to network, share information, and support one another.

NC AHEC also hosts an annual GME Collaborative professional development conference for North Carolina’s GME community. In 2023, conference organizers chose a theme of Finding Meaning in Medicine for the meeting’s third year, with session

the uneven distribution of primary care physicians in the state’s rural areas.

10 |

In June 2023, MAHEC’s Simulation Center welcomed 76 new GME interns for orientation.

Among them were Obstetrics interns who practiced a breech cesarean delivery with a birthing manikin, using all the equipment they would find in a typical operating room, and Internal Medicine interns who participated in simulations with patient actors.

topics ranging from resident wellness to faculty development and a program coordinator boot camp. Attendees also had the opportunity to learn how to integrate immersive simulation techniques into current practices, like enhancing team dynamics across health practitioners in the field.

NC AHEC continues to look for ways to support GME more effectively. Our program continues to assess activities to support community-based GME, such as faculty development and networking, curricular support, coaching, and administrative consultation.

“When I completed medical school, my utmost desire was to return to my hometown to take up the baton from one of the local physicians who was overdue for his well-earned retirement. Taking over a solo practice felt like an insurmountable task, but with this fellowship and the help of MAHEC in general, it has been much more manageable.”

TIM BLECKLEY. MD Rural Fellow, MAHEC Family practice physician

Of the 58 MAHEC-recruited and trained residents and fellows graduating in June 2023, 19 elected to further their training. Of the others, more than half are remaining in the region to practice, including all four 2023 psychiatry graduates who accepted positions at Mission Hospital’s new Mental Health and Wellness Center in Asheville.

SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC supported 23 active residents last year. Eight physicians graduated from the Family Medicine Residency Program in late June. These doctors of both allopathic and osteopathic medicine spent three years in the program, completing requirements for board certification. In addition, five of the eight physicians will practice medicine in North Carolina, with one

With limited access to psychiatric services in their region, the Graduate Medical Education team at SEAHEC understands the challenge of providing the right care for their community members. This is why SEAHEC is venturing into an innovative partnership with Novant Health, along with UNC Health, the UNC School of Medicine, and the Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune to launch a new psychiatric residency program to train more physicians in southeastern North Carolina and boost the pipeline of psychiatric providers.

The initial class of seven psychiatric residents will begin the four-year program in June 2024. The class will include both military and civilian physicians who will conduct clinical rotations at both Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center

remaining in Southern Regional AHEC’s ninecounty region.

in Wilmington and Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville.

Through their support of graduate medical education at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, NORTHWEST AHEC creates opportunities to train and retain health care professionals who are making a difference in the lives of diverse populations across our state. Of the Northwest AHEC-supported Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist residents who graduated in 2022-23, 59% chose to remain and practice in North Carolina.

In addition, their residents in family & community medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry & behavioral health, and pediatrics served a total of 59,840 underseved patients across Northwest AHEC’s 17-country region in 2022-23.

Learn more about residencies at NC AHEC.

| 11

Continuing Professional Development

NEW NURSING PROGRAM in 2023

Empowering the health care workforce of today with the lifelong learning opportunities they need to keep patients healthy

UNIQUE CPD PARTICIPANTS BY NC COUNTY 2022-23 We offer a variety of continuing professional development opportunities that reflect current and future trends in health care for allied health, behavioral health, continuing medical education, nursing, oral health, pharmacy, and public health. We deliver our programs through traditional classroom instruction, online and interactive learning, and simulation trainings.

Our statewide course catalog serves as a portal to discovering live events and asynchronous learning available anywhere, anytime.

12 |

We reach health care professionals across North Carolina with our regional and virtual CPD programs. We offer a variety of ways for health care professionals to reinvest in their careers and remain life-long learners: grand rounds, certificate courses, refresher courses, workshops and conferences, skill development, information sharing, learning collaboratives, and more!

CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR PARTNER PROGRAM The NC AHEC Nursing Clinical Instructor Partner (CIP) program aims to increase nursing faculty through partnerships between academic nursing programs and practice organizations. This innovative clinical education model prepares qualified RNs to serve as clinical nursing instructors without leaving their clinical role in their practice organization. This program is for RNs with a BSN or higher who want to work as a clinical instructor in an LPN, ADN, or BSN program and stay in their current clinical practice role.

Quick Facts • Ensures essential knowledge and skills to be a clinical instructor.

• Provides a support network of nurse educators and other CIPs. • Encourages growth and development while enhancing the nursing workforce.

• Taught through online modules, live webinars, and one shadowing experience in a peer cohort.

• Approved by the NC Board of Nursing to meet the 45-hour teaching and learning requirement for new faculty.

Cost and Registration For a limited time, there is no registration fee. In order to register, a participant must be selected by a program partner to attend. Please contact clinical_instructor_partnership@groups.ncahec.net for next steps. Please include your place of work and contact information in your message, and NC AHEC will connect you with your program partner.

HOLD FOR IMAGE

Learn more about how the RN Refresher Program is helping nurses with inactive licenses get back in the field.

RN REFRESHER PROGRAM NC AHEC’s RN Refresher course provies a means for nurses with inactive licensure or who have been out of practice for five or more years to reactivate their license with the NC Board of Nursing. The 24-module theory course is online and self-paced. The clinical practicum is managed by a participant’s regional AHEC and provides 140 hours of clinical learning experiences.

Effective October 2024, administrative management of the RN Refresher Program will migrate from UNC-Chapel Hill to SOUTH PIEDMONT AHEC. Please stay tuned for updated registration information from NC AHEC.

| 13

Practice Support

OUR OFFERINGS and services

Helping health care practices improve their quality of care and reduce their costs through our on-site coaching services and webinar trainings

Practices need to position themselves for our developing health care system while focusing on whole-person, patientcentered care. Our practice support coaches help providers transform the way in which care is delivered in their primary care, specialty, or behavioral health setting. Our ultimate goal is to help practices stand on their own two feet while enhancing quality and reducing costs. We support practices in their implementation of Tailored Care Management (TCM), the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM), and more.

14 |

MEDICAID MANAGED CARE (MMC) TRAINING We host regular webinars in collaboration with NC DHHS to help North Carolina practices succeed in the Medicaid Managed Care transformation.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (QI) We support practices in achieving an innovative, whole person, well-coordinated system of care that addresses both medical and non-medical drivers of health and promotes health equity.

TAILORED CARE MANAGEMENT (TCM) SUPPORT We offer learning collaborative sessions, professional development trainings, and on-site practice support to help AMH+/CMA candidate organizations provide whole-person care.

COLLABORATIVE CARE MODEL (CoCM) We help practices provides patients with medical and behavioral health care in a primary care setting while implementing a team-based approach.

ADVANCED MEDICAL HOME (AMH) SUPPORT NC AHEC provides regular coaching opportunities, a regular webinar series, and digital tools to help practices in meeting AMH model requirements.

COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER (CHW) PROGRAM NC AHEC supports the development of a qualified and sustainable CHW workforce that is well-equipped to advance health equity in North Carolina.

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT ACADEMY (PMA) This bootcamp offered statewide by SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC is designed to lend an overview of the basic knowledge and skills a practice manager needs to succeed.

HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT) We provide personalized, no-cost assistance to primary care and behavioral health practices that accept NC Medicaid and are interested in optimizing health information technology.

COLLABORATIVE CARE MODEL

TAILORED CARE MANAGEMENT (TCM) •

•

•

•

•

The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an integrated modality that provides patients with medical and behavioral health care in a primary care setting.

•

Benefits include better patient outcomes, improved patient and provider satisfaction, and a reduction in health care costs. sing CoCM may reduce health disparities in access to behavioral health.

•

Learning collaborative sessions and professional development courses are provided by NC AHEC at no cost and designed to provide content experts and peer-to-peer learning opportunities to AMH+ and CMA organizations as they prepare for TCM implementation and site reviews

NC DHHS has partnered with NC AHEC to provide educational and practice-based support to primary care practices interested in implementing CoCM, including coaching on workflows and billing/ coding, registry implementation, and continuing education programs.

•

NC AHEC offers educational modules and learning collaboratives as virtual learning opportunities for providers.

In fiscal year 2023, NC AHEC practice support coaches totaled 4,531 encounters with 109 provider entities to help practices meet Tailored Care Management requirements

1ST PMA COHORT GRADUATES

Effective December 1, 2022, Behavioral Health (BH) – I/DD Tailored Plan beneficiaries have a single designated care manager supported by a multidisciplinary care team to provide whole-person care management that addresses their needs NC DHHS has partnered with NC AHEC to provide statewide practice support, education, and technical assistance to AMH+ and Care Management Agency (CMA) organizations who pass the TCM desk review component of the certification process

KEHNESHA MITCHELL, MHA Practice Support Coach South Piedmont AHEC

The first year of the NC AHEC Practice Management Academy (PMA) saw great success, with the inaugural cohort graduating 38 participants. In addition to the bootcamp, a Medicaid grant funded two stand-alone courses for the Academy: Negotiating Effective Contracts and The Practice Manager: Your Most Profitable Partner.

“Instead of worrying about how to recieve this kind of care, the Collaborative Care Model allows patients to go to their primary care physician to get the support they need and to start their healing journey with that sense of familiarity.” | 15

Information & Library Services

NEW to the ADL?

Enhancing health education and practice with quality information & tools

Our librarians provide essential support for the clinical, educational, and research activities of health professionals and students throughout the state and at every stage of their career. Each of our nine Regional AHEC locations is equipped with a library staff ready to serve the specific needs of the health care providers in their counties. Beyond our traditional library services, the AHEC Digital Library also gives access to high-quality health information for all providers in the state through our web portal of databases and journal collections.

INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES. We are committed to providing highquality and reliable resources to support learners. Whether a student, researcher, or a practitioner, North Carolinians can access a wide range of materials such as full-text journals, books, and clinical and educational tools. To help learners make the best use of our resources, we offer guidance and support on how to find, access, evaluate, and use them effectively. You can also contact us for any questions or feedback you may have about our offerings.

REFERENCE SERVICES. Whether you are conducting research, teaching, or studying, our librarians can help you access the most relevant and reliable sources for your academic needs.

Our reference service is designed to guide you through the vast collection of books, journals, databases, and other materials that we offer. You can contact us online or in person, and we will assist you with finding, evaluating, and using the information you need.

HEATHER GOODSON, MS Associate Director, Behavorial Health Wake AHEC

“The AHEC Digital Library supports behavioral health programming by providing resources and literature that allow us to focus on the most recent evidence-based practices and enhance understanding of current trends in the field, resulting in improved programs for providers in our region.”

16 |

SUBJECT GUIDES. Our collection of subject-specific bibliographies are designed to help you find reliable and relevant information for your research or practice. We offer a variety of bibliographies on different health-related topics, from the Affordable Care Act to rural health. All subject guides are available in the AHEC Digital Library to all members.

THE AHEC DIGITAL LIBRARY Don’t have an ADL membership? The AHEC Digital Library (ADL) is your portal to AHEC library services, information, and education. The ADL ensures that all providers in the state have high-quality health information readily available through a variety of membership categories, ranging from access to free resources to paid subscriptions. The AHEC Digital Library (library. ncahec.net) is a web portal that health care providers and community hospital staff can use to access electronic information collections.

We’ve made an adjustment to how we capture our library service interaction metrics to include just our one-on-one librarian reference and instructional services as opposed to all AHEC Digital Library services.

What hasn’t changed is that we’re still providing state-of-the-art support for health care providers and students all over North Carolina.

ADL librarians negotiate and manage journals, databases, and textbooks for the AHEC libraries and all ADL consortium members, which includes hospitals and health systems. Licensed resources are also available to preceptors, AHEC medical residents, faculty, and staff. Individual users may access licensed resources for an annual membership fee.

| 17

To kick off the Celebrating 50 Years campaign, NC AHEC staff from across the state convened in downtown Winston-Salem in December 2022, hosted by NORTHWEST AHEC. Meeting agenda items included discussions aimed at gaining an understanding of workforce challenges facing our health system partners.

Above, the NORTHWEST AHEC team poses in front of our anniversary banner at the Benton Convention Center.

In the upper right-hand corner, statewide Health Careers & Workforce Diversity leader Paris Andrew presents during a conference session with MAHEC Health Careers director Leslie Council.

18 |

|1

18

Statewide Initiatives Our program is more than just a provider of six core service lines.

We also lead and manage several statewide projects and initiatives that aim to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians.

El Centro Hispano is a community partner of NC AHEC’s Community Health Worker (CHW) program.

Since 1992, El Centro Hispano has actively engaged aand represented the Hispanic and Latino population in Durham, Wake, Orange, and neighboring counties in WAKE AHEC and PIEDMONT AHEC regions.

These projects involve collaboration across service lines and regions, our state and community partners, and a strategic approach to recruit, train, and retain a diverse and competent health care workforce.

RNs who are looking to inspire and mentor the next generation of nurses can benefit from the Nursing Clinical Instructor Partner (CIP) program (pg.

13). This program allows registered nurses to become clinical nursing instructors without leaving their current practice organization.

The CIP program is a collaborative initiative between NC AHEC, nursing programs, and practice organizations with a goal of increasing the number of qualified nursing faculty in North Carolina by preparing RNs to serve as clinical instructors in academic-practice partnerships. The program covers the essential knowledge and skills for clinical teaching, such as student assessment, feedback, evaluation, and clinical reasoning. The program also provides a support network of experienced nurse educators and other CIPs who can mentor and assist them throughout their journey.

The program consists of online modules, live webinars, a shadowing experience, and is delivered in a peer cohort format. The program is approved by the NC Board of Nursing and fulfills the 45-hour teaching and learning requirement for new faculty.

Now in its fourth year, the Community Health Worker program (p. 13) continues to grow with support from NC AHEC, the CDC, the Office of Rural Health (ORH), and the NC DHHS Division of Health Benefits. NC AHEC supports the development of a

What is a community health worker? A community health worker is a trusted person who works to improve the public health of a community. They help people access and use health and social services that are suitable for their culture and needs and empower them to better their health and well-being. | 19

A new initiative in partnership with NCCHWA, CHASM, and ORH brings interprofessional teams together to elevate COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERs in communities across the state.

qualified and sustainable CHW workforce wellequipped to advance health equity.

In 2023, in partnership with the NC Community Health Worker Association (NCCHWA), CommUnity Healing through Activism and Strategic Mobilization (CHASM), and ORH, NC AHEC thas led the launch of a new program to assemble teams from each Medicaid region in North Carolina. These teams, forming the Health Equity through Action and Leadership (HEAL) Collaborative, deepen CHW integration across various health systems and build bridges between the community.

Through the HEAL Collaborative anchored at MAHEC, team members collaborate with their Medicaid region’s CHW leaders and system allies to provide, test, and promote community-based solutions to advance racial, economic, and health

20 |

equity. Results from this collaborative effort are forthcoming in late 2024.

The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) is an integrated modality that provides patients with medical and behavioral health care in a primary care setting. CoCM leverages a team-based, interdisciplinary and systematic approach to screen, diagnose, treat, and provide follow-up care.

Benefits of CoCM include better patient outcomes, improved patient and provider satisfaction, and reduction in health care costs. In addition, using CoCM may reduce health disparities in access to behavioral health. Learn more on p. 15.

The Consortium for Clinical Education and Practice (CCEP) was developed to identify,

Learn about HEALTHY NORTH CAROLINA 2030 from our Director of Graduate Medical Education, Dr. Adam Zolotor.

prioritize and address clinical placement issues for nursing students. Clinical and academic partners meet regularly to address undergraduate nursing clinical capacity issues, facilitate placement of nursing students in the region, and standardize the credentialing process. New academic programs and staff from clinical partners joined in 2022-23.

Learn more about CCEP happenings on p. 9.

Every 10 years, North Carolina identifies the measures of health and well-being for the people of our state over the next decade. The culmination of this process for the current decade, led by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM) and NC DHHS is known as Healthy North Carolina 2030 (HNC 2030). NC AHEC is a key partner for HNC 2030 implementation.

Much of our statewide work aligns with the indicators outlined by HNC2030, including delivering educational programs to address substance abuse issues, increasing residency positions in rural areas to decrease health inequities, providing no-cost support to help primary care practices close care gaps with adult diabetes screening rates, pediatric immunizations, and prenatal care, among others.

North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot program is an unprecedented opportunity to test the integration of evidence-based, non-medical interventions into the state’s Medicaid program. In partnership with NC DHHS, NC AHEC has developed a series of required and recommended trainings for frontline care managers playing an essential role in identifying members that may benefit from Pilot services. AREA L AHEC, EASTERN AHEC, MAHEC, SEAHEC, SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC, and WAKE AHEC have all contributed to the development of these trainings as well as a statewide conference, which was attended by over 350 participants.

Results-Based Accountability™ (RBA) is a disicplined way of thinking about acting to improve entrenched and complex social problems.

Communities use RBA to improve the lives of children, youth, families, and adults. It is also used

by organizations to improve the effectiveness of their programs and services.

Anchored at EASTERN AHEC, NC AHEC has developed RBA curriculum for health care professionals in collaboration with NC DHHS Division of Public Health and the Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation (FHLI). RBA is also the basis for our strategic plan through 2025.

See p. 22 for more information.

Tailored Care Management formed the Community Partners Coalition to engage community organizations and leaders and coordinate response to the opioid epidemic in the region. The coalition launched Our Community Link to connect communities to health care resources.

Since its inception in June, there have been nearly 20,000 searches on the platform for those seeking resources, with the top three searches falling under the areas of assistance with housing, health care, and food. Additionally, SEAHEC co-published, with Greensboro AHEC, the Clinical Practice Controlled Substance Prescribing Workbook. SEAHEC has distributed over 1,500 of these workbooks in the region.

Interested in exploring all of our statewide initiatives?

Scan the QR code below to visit www.ncahec.net.

HOLD FOR IMAGE

| 21 | 21

Strategic Planning Exploring innovative solutions to empower health care professionals and enhance the well-being of our community

In 2022, we launched our statewide strategic plan. In the last year, we’ve celebrated major strides toward meeting these goals—implementing a shared brand architecture system-wide, offering a stateof-the-art diagnostic tool to providers at no cost, and developing the NC Center on the Workforce for Health, among others. In this year-in-review, we’ll touch on some of these points of progress and share some of our plans for moving the needle on our result: that everyone in North Carolina is healthy and supported by an appropriate and highly competent health workforce that reflects the communities it serves.

22 |

Implement workforce development plans Part of our plan through 2025 is to establish the NC CENTER ON THE WORKFORCE FOR HEALTH. The Center will leverage data and partnerships to develop and deploy plans to address the persistent health workforce shortages that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Center will provide a forum for health employers, workers, educators, regulators, policymakers, and others to convene, discuss challenges and opportunities, share best practices and lessons learned, identify potential solutions and metrics for success, and monitor progress toward addressing these challenges.

North Carolina’s historic, persistent, and worsening health workforce shortages can best be addressed through intentional, transparent, and collaborative engagement by the communities interested in solving those problems.

Goals of the Center include: • Provide a mechanism to ensure that efforts to address health workforce issues persist over time

which will ultimately better align the supply of health workers with the demand for those workers.

• Convene employers, educators, workers, regulators, and others to develop, deploy, monitor, and assess efforts to address health workforce issues. Convenings will be at the state and local levels with bi-directional information flow.

• Gather and make available relevant data and policy, analyze, and synthesize that information to make it actionable, and provide technical assistance and guidance to interested parties when acting to address health workforce issues.

• Provide a forum for interested parties to share best practices and lessons learned.

The Center also established the Health Talent Alliance—a partnership with the NC Chamber Foundation—to deploy Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) across North Carolina through regional AHECs. TPM is a national model to apply supply chain management principles to workforce development, and 5 regions have on-boarded TPM coordinators this year.

Leverage data for evidence-based approaches An operational anchor of our strategic plan is to operate as a system that responds to changes in the health care workforce and landscape through effective and efficient utilization of available resources. To accomplish this, leveraging, synthesizing, and evaluating AHEC sources of data to identify and act on best evidence-based approaches across service lines and to forecast future needs is crucial to our success.

One of our goals is to expand visibility into our collected data. In 2023, we welcomed a data analyst onto our statewide IT team to support us in expanding the scope of our data reporting and visualization dashboard and by increasing refresh rates of our current metrics. These metrics—from pathway program performance measures to student housing utilization to the geographical outreach of our continuing professional programs—capture the impact of our service lines on preparing the present and future of our health care workforce for tomorrow’s patient care.

Deploying academic-based practice partnerships We are committed to ensuring that the health care workforce in North Carolina is ready to work in a collaborative, patient-centered, and team-based care environment. That’s why we’ve identified the deployment for academic-based practice partnerships as a key instigator in promoting and prioritizing the health and well-being of our communities.

Academic-based practice partnerships are a mechanism for advancing health professional practice to improve the health of all individuals in North Carolina. Collaborative partnerships benefit patients, students, instructors, and health systems by leading to improved patient care and health system innovations. Based on this knowledge, it is our goal to build the CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR PARTNERSHIP project (p. 13) as a model for academic-practice partnerships across professions to educate the future of our health workforce.

Interested in reviewing the rest of our strategic plan?

Scan the QR code below and share your feedback with us at www.ncahec.net.

HOLD FOR IMAGE

| 23

PIEDMONT AHEC Terry Lynn Executive Director, Piedmont AHEC Moses Cone Health System 706 Green Valley Rd. Greensboro, NC 27408 piedmontahec.org NC AHEC PROGRAM Hugh Tilson, JD, MPH Executive Director, NC AHEC Program 145 N. Medical Drive The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599 ncahec.net

AREA L AHEC Debby P. Futrell, PharmD President & CEO, Area L AHEC PO Drawer 7368 Rocky Mount, NC 27804 arealahec.org

MOUNTAIN AHEC Francisco Castelblanco, DNP, RN AHEC Director 121 Hendersonville Rd. Asheville, NC 28803 mahec.net

NORTHWEST AHEC Michael Lischke, EdD, MPH The Richard Janeway, MD, Distinguished Director Wake Forest University Health Sciences Medical Center Blvd.

Winston-Salem, NC 27157 wakehealth.edu/northwest-ahec

EASTERN AHEC Lorrie Basnight, MD, FAAP Executive Director, Eastern AHEC Associate Dean of CME, Brody School of Medicine 2600 West Arlington Blvd.

Greenville, NC 27835 easternahec.net

24 |

SOUTH EAST AHEC Joseph A. Pino, MD Executive Director, SEAHEC VP of Graduate Medical Education, New Hanover Regional Medical Center 2511 Delaney Ave. Wilmington, NC 28403 seahec.net

SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC Sushma Kapoor, MD President & CEO 1601 Owen Drive Fayetteville, NC 28304 southernregionalahec.org

SOUTH PIEDMONT AHEC Joann L. Spaleta, FACHE, CDP, MBA, MHA, MT(ASCP) Executive Director, South Piedmont AHEC Assistant Vice President, Atrium Health PO Box 32861 Charlotte, NC 28232 southpiedmontahec.org

WAKE AHEC John E.R. Perry III, MD Executive Director, Wake AHEC VP of Medical Education, WakeMed Health & Hospitals 3024 New Bern Ave., Suite 301 Raleigh, NC 27610 wakeahec.org

DUKE AHEC PROGRAM Marvin Swartz, MD Director, Duke AHEC Program Duke University Medical Center, Box 3173 Durham, NC 27710 dukeahec.mc.duke.edu

145 N. Medical Drive University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7165 ncahec.net

Proving and supporting educational activities and services with a focus on primary care in rural communities and those with less access to resources to recruit, train, and retain the workforce needed to create a healthy North Carolina FACEBOOK.COM/NCAHEC

TWITTER.COM/NCAHEC