September 2005
September
18-19, 2005
AMA
Commission to End Health Care Disparities
Thanks to Rob Gilchick for representing ACPM at the Fall
meeting of the American Medical Association's Commission
to End Health Care Disparities, held in Arlington, VA.
In
addition to representing ACPM in the main body of the
commission, Dr. Gilchick is also part of the
Data/Information Workgroup, which has produced data from
a nationwide survey of physicians to measure engagement
in the subject of health care disparities.
The report
of the Commission may be found
here.
September
2005
Council on
Linkages Between Academia and
Public Health Practice
Thanks to Hugh Tilson for representing ACPM on the
September 19, 2005 Council on Linkages Between Academia and
Public Health Practice conference call. A summary of the
call follows.
Council
members had the opportunity to hear from a recent user
of one of the Council's seminal projects—the Core
Competencies. Dean Stephen Shortell, chair of the
Association of Schools of Public Health's (ASPH)
Education Committee, described how ASPH working groups
found the Core Competencies to be one of the most
helpful and used resources in the development of a set
of competencies for MPH students. Discussion also
focused on how the Council's Core Competencies and the
MPH competencies could be used in a complementary
fashion and on the need for future competency
development to be more anchored in practice, recognizing
the variety of practice settings. To facilitate this,
the Council plans to develop a one-page guide to
describe several key public health competencies sets and
the particular uses of each.
In
addition to this and related competencies efforts, the
Council discussed other activities it would like to
engage in during the next fiscal year. Council
representatives reported that their organizations are
especially interested in the Council working with its
member organizations to produce resources that can be
used in the field to address public health worker
shortages and to strengthen recruitment and retention.
In particular, the Council would like to pursue
opportunities to a) develop recommendations for quickly
introducing new workers to public health practice and/or
upgrading the current workforce to fill leadership and
expertise voids created by retirement; b) create a
toolkit to help governmental public health agencies
recruit and retain workers, with a focus on issues like
working environment, mission, management structure, and
leadership; and c) compile case studies and other
resources to elevate awareness about public health and
assist in the recruitment of public health workers,
students, and faculty members.
During the
conversation on priorities for the coming year, the
Council also discussed providing ongoing support of
academic academic/practice partnerships. Further, the
Council recognized the value in involving a broad
coalition of government agencies, philanthropic
foundations, and businesses in supporting public health
systems research (PHSR). The Council’s next major effort
to promote and advance PHSR will be a closed-door
meeting of funders being held on September 29, 2005. The
purpose of this meeting is to foster collaboration among
funders and to craft unified messages about the need for
greater investment in PHSR activities and
infrastructure.
September 2005
ACPM
Legislative Initiative to Fund Preventive Medicine
Residency Programs
ACPM staff met with the following congressional offices
during the month of August to urge their support of a
$43 million line-item appropriation for preventive
medicine residency programs. Sen. Tom Harkin has
introduced legislation in the Senate authorizing $43
million for PM programs and ACPM staff are working to
broaden support for the Harkin bill and secure the
introduction of a companion measure in the House.
Rep. Collin Peterson
(R-MN)
Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA)
Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA)
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
Rep. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Rep. Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI)
