December 12, 2024

Enhancing Care for Those Who Need It Most: Learn Innovative Practice Models Alongside Other Attendees at the ACU Virtual Conference

People in underserved communities face unique health challenges, and providers must be prepared to meet these needs with ever-evolving best practices—especially in the midst of a pandemic. Join the ACU's Virtual Conference from Sept. 14-18 to learn innovative strategies to improve your care delivery in our Practice Models track while networking with other clinicians, students, and administrators using our CrowdCompass app. Sessions in our #ACUConf Practice Models track will … [Read more...]

Learn How to Build a Thriving Health Center Workforce at the ACU’s Virtual Conference

Health centers supporting underserved communities are facing greater challenges than ever in building and retaining their workforce during COVID-19. Learn the effective management strategies and emerging best practices necessary to not only support your workforce but maximize its effectiveness to improve health outcomes in the Workforce Track at our Virtual Conference on Sept. 14-18. In addition to a Bureau of Health Workforce update, our Workforce Track will offer six in-depth workforce … [Read more...]

Dr. Gary Puckrein, NMQF President and CEO, to Address “Transforming Healthcare in the Age of Pandemics: Can Health Equity Be Achieved?” in the Opening Keynote of the ACU Virtual Conference

The ACU is excited to announce the opening keynote speaker of our upcoming Virtual Conference: Dr. Gary A. Puckrein, President and CEO of the National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF). A celebrated health equity leader, he led the NMQF in launching the National Health Index in 1998, creating a centralized database linking vital statistics, demographics, and other data to create a portrait of health statuses—and disparities—across communities nationwide. Puckrein will lend his unique perspective to … [Read more...]

Learn Practical Strategies for Reducing Health Disparities at ACU’s Virtual Conference

It takes transdisciplinary care and data-informed clinical strategies to improve health outcomes and reduce barriers to access for underserved populations, especially during a pandemic. Explore practical solutions to increase health equity for those who need it most in our five-workshop Disparities Track at the ACU's first-ever Virtual Conference from Sept. 14-18.Whether you're seeking to utilize PCMH criteria to address disparities or confront implicit bias, learn evidence-based … [Read more...]

ACU Statement – Black Lives Matter

The turmoil of the past week has once again brought into focus the heart-wrenching and infuriating level of systemic racism that continues to exist in the United States. ACU’s mission, to improve the health of America’s underserved populations and to enhance the development and support of the health care clinicians serving these populations, means we are committed as an organization to fight for equity, in health, and in all other ways that impact the underserved in our nation. We do … [Read more...]

ACU Statement on Health Heroes 2020 Act

ACU Statement on Senator Durbin and Representative Schakowsky Health Heroes 2020 Act (Washington DC, April 24, 2020) -- Today, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) proposed a new plan to increase the nation’s health care workforce and address the overwhelming need of millions of people living in communities with severe workforce shortages. Senator Durbin and Representative Schakowsky’s proposal includes emergency surge funding to place health care … [Read more...]

COVID-19 Advocacy & Stimulus Package/CARES Act

The week of March 9th ACU began aggressively working to inform Congress and their staff about the needs of clinicians caring for the underserved and critical support needed for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). Specifically, ACU advocated for: immediate access and priority distribution of PPEs, N95s and sanitation materials for clinicians working in underserved communities, flexibility and adequate reimbursement related to telehealth, flexibility for NHSC providers relative to interstate … [Read more...]

ACU and Centene Partner for Suicide Prevention

The Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU) announced the successful completion of pilots implemented to assess the impact of its Suicide Safer Care training curriculum and toolkit. With support from Centene Corporation, the training curriculum was developed and piloted across eight states, engaging 1,060 trainees, to evaluate for effectiveness in 2018-19.  Using the Zero Suicide framework as a foundation, the Suicide Safer Care curriculum was created to train primary care … [Read more...]

Bureau of Health Workforce Clinician Dashboards

BHW’s Clinician Dashboards offer data tools and information related to the retention and distribution of BHW program participants who have completed training or service. The dashboards include: alumni retention data for NHSC and Nurse Corps loan repayment and scholarship programs from 2012 – 2018; and unified data showing the distribution of alumni of BHW programs, including the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), Nurse Corps (NC), and the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education … [Read more...]

NHSC Funding for Fiscal Year 2020

On December 20, the President signed two spending bills that fund the federal government through September 30. Discretionary funding for Community Health Centers will remain at FY2019 levels while discretionary funding for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) will increase from $105 million in FY2019 to $120 million in FY2020. The FY2020 Appropriations Legislation also extends mandatory funding for Community Health Centers and NHSC through May 22, 2020. Founded by … [Read more...]