CHICAGO, June 23, 2004 – The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Association of Academic Health Centers (AHC) are jointly sponsoring an invitational symposium on July 30 in downtown Chicago for the leaders of hospitals that serve poor and uninsured patients and sponsor residency programs for physicians in training.
“Good Learning for Good Health Care in Safety Net Hospitals” will give chief executive officers, designated institutional officials and other key administrators the opportunity to exchange ideas and best practices for improving graduate medical education and access to and quality of health care at safety net hospitals. Safety net hospitals treat all patients, regardless of ability to pay, and care for a large number of patients who are uninsured or covered by Medicaid. Many safety net hospitals also sponsor residency programs for physicians in training.
Safety net hospitals have come under increasing financial pressure in recent years as Medicare and Medicaid payments have shrunk and the number of uninsured has increased. The symposium will give leaders of safety net institutions an opportunity to learn from each other and develop new ideas for improving patient care and resident education.
“Good learning for good health care has no socioeconomic boundaries,” said David C. Leach, MD, executive director of the ACGME. “The poor and the wealthy both benefit from an environment that promotes both healing of patients and formation of health professionals. Teaching hospitals attract bright doctors and sick patients. This event will allow stories of success and lessons to be shared.”
Noted, Roger J. Bulger, MD, president of the Association of Academic Health Centers, “Safety net hospitals are the core of America’s health care system. For all Americans, particularly the underserved, the doors to care are never closed and health professionals – from students to practitioners – are involved in providing needed services.”
Symposium speakers include Dr. Leach; Dr. Bulger; ACGME chair Charles L. Rice, MD; and former Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, director of the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine.
The symposium will be held at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive. For more information, contact Jerry Vasilias, associate director of field activities, at 312.755.5015.
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The ACGME is a private, non-profit council that accredits 7,800 residency programs
in 27 specialties affecting 100,000 residents. Its mission is to improve the quality
of health care in the United States by ensuring and improving the quality of graduate
medical education for physicians in training.
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