FUTURE: What will the academic health center look like?

A conceptual framework for the academic health center (AHC)  is proposed in this article which is part of the “New Conversations” series in the journal Academic Medicine.  The framework is built on the concept of the “three-legged stool” – which refers to the academic health center’s traditional missions of patient care, teaching, and research.  The authors overlay the three-legged stool on top of 4 aspects: health, innovation, community, and policy, and discuss what each of the 12 intersections might look like.  For example, where research intersects with community – one would look at how to integrate the AHC’s research program with community research programs.  This model is an attempt to adapt the traditional role of the academic health center to the new health care delivery system that is emerging in the wake of the Affordable Care Act.

Source: Borden, W.B., Mushlin, A.I., and others. 2015, May). A new conceptual framework for academic health centers. Academic Medicine, 90(5), 569-573.  Retrieved from http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2015/05000/A_New_Conceptual_Framework_for_Academic_Health.14.aspx  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org