Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) are a national program developed by Congress and administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration in 1971 to recruit, train and retain a health professions workforce commitment to underserved populations. AHECs work to improve the diversity, distribution, and quality of the healthcare workforce in their local communities, relying on partnerships between AHEC program offices, academic institutions, hospitals, clinics and the communities they serve. AHEC promotes health career pathways, creates healthcare educational opportunities for students as young as elementary age through high school, offers professional and post-graduate training, and supports health care providers working with underserved populations.

Area Health Education Centers strategically located at health professions education and training organizations within designated regions where health care and health care education needs are not adequately met. AHEC Program Offices oversee the federal grant and are located at universities with school of medicine, osteopathic medicine, or nursing. The centers are responsible for providing matching funds to the federal grant and building regional networks to build programming and resources responsive to regional needs. 

Core required programs:

1. AHEC Scholars
2. Community-based Experiential Training
3. Pathway Programs (“Pipeline”) high school students (grades 9-12)
4. Continuing Education

The WA AHEC program office is housed in the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Office of Rural Programs and consists of 4 regional centers: AHEC of Western Washington in Bellingham, WA; Eastern Washington AHEC in Spokane, WA; Southwest Washington AHEC in Olympia, WA; Central Washington AHEC in Wenatchee, WA. Each center has the goal of diversifying the rural and urban underserved health workforce and increasing accessibility to health care education by providing leadership and engaging with rural and urban underserved communities.

AHEC focuses on developing and enhancing education and training networks within communities, academic institutions, and community-based organizations. The main programs include: Pathway Development (K-12), Continuing Education, Rural Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP), and AHEC Scholars. Each AHEC also engages in different “passion projects” as activities to promote workforce development within each respective region. The AHECS also partner with other organizations to do presentations and attend conferences with the main goal of connecting with the rural and underserved communities and helping to close the gaps in rural healthcare.

The Health Resources and Services Administration center requirements:

A. The center fosters networking and collaboration among communities and between academic health centers and community-based centers;

B. The center serves communities with a demonstrated need of health professionals in partnership with academic medical centers;

C. The center addresses the health care workforce needs of the communities served in coordination with the public workforce investment system;

D. The center will focus on innovative, evidence-based provider resiliency efforts to better address the needs of individuals with mental health and substance use disorders and prevent and mitigate burnout among health profession students, trainees, residents, and providers, andE. The center supports the capacity to train and develop CHWs and other paraprofessionals to serve as a bridge to the community to address the social determinants of health.