The University of Mississippi Medical Center MSAHEC is a statewide health professions network dedicated to improving access to health care in Mississippi’s rural and underserved communities.

The four project goals address the Bureau of Health Professions National Workforce Goals through the implementation of programs that address distribution, diversity, and quality of the health care workforce.

Goal 1: Regionalize and decentralize professional health care training in Mississippi.

A Program Office and six AHEC centers have been developed with accompanying programmatic emphasis:

The Mississippi AHEC Program Office in Jackson, University of Mississippi Medical Center, is located in Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center, serving as a link between the rural community  and UMMC that oversees the functions of the AHEC regional centers.

The Mississippi Delta AHEC in Cleveland:  covers nine delta counties in the northwestern part of the state, located on the campus of Delta State University School of Nursing, one of the most economically depressed areas in the nation.

The Southwest Mississippi AHEC:   covers eight counties in the southwestern part of the state, (new location pending).

The East Central Mississippi AHEC in Meridian:  covers fourteen counties served by the East Central Mississippi Health Network (ECM Health Net), is already the recipient of a federal grant with a scope of activities that nicely dovetails with the goals and objectives of AHEC.

The Southern Mississippi AHEC in Hattiesburg:  catchment area includes fifteen counties including the Gulf Coast, served by the University of Southern Mississippi College of Health.
The North Central Mississippi AHEC in Clarksdale: covers fourteen counties in the north central part of the state located at the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Center.

The North East Mississippi AHEC in Starkville:  located at Mississippi State University’s Social Science Research Center, covers 14 counties in the north east part of the state.

Goal 2: Improve the quality and availability of health care in medically underserved areas through community and academic partnerships.

Education:  The Mississippi AHEC provides programs that introduce K-12 students, “Kids Health Career”, to the idea of a career in the health professions.   We try to expose students to the community health center model of care through volunteer programs, summer enrichment programs, community seminars, and participation in career days.

Goal 3:  Establish a population-based rural health database and placing UMC-trained residents in rural areas as a recruitment network for medically underserved areas in Mississippi.

Partnerships:  Collaborative efforts with programs to maximize the benefits. Partnerships with Mississippi Primary Health Care Association (MPHCA) and health centers; assisting in identifying what communities need to fill any service gaps and develop individualized programs; enhance access to quality health care particularly primary and preventive care. Such partnerships improve the supply and distribution of health care professionals through community/academic educational partnerships.

Student Rotations:  Providing Pre/Post doctoral students with rotation exposures to the area hospitals, community health centers, and clinics.  These exposures are to fulfill our long term goal of encouraging these students to return as physicians to medically underserved areas to serve.

Communications:  Continuing education efforts through Tele-Health, interactive learning experiences or simulations.   This effort holds great promise for improving services and quality of life in rural communities. Online courses offered by universities and community colleges fit into this category. Transmission of a live event such as medical grand rounds or other presentation or case presentation of a patient that can be viewed at a remote location on one's computer in real time. 

Goal 4: Provide health profession training programs for health care needs specific to communities and teaches how to utilize local resources.

Statewide AHEC Programs: Collaborative efforts with partners to maximize the benefits of the program. Partnerships with Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) identifying the need to fill any service gaps and develop a career ladder for potential health care workers.  Established relationship with The Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA) has resulted in affecting a greater population to combat health professional shortages. The Health Career Guides, published in collaboration with the MHA, were created to assist educators in providing students with the knowledge needed to pursue a career in healthcare.

Statewide Clearinghouse: The Mississippi AHEC has developed a statewide clearinghouse serving as an information tool that is a resource for all matters dealing with health careers and student enrichment programs stimulating interest in health careers offered throughout the state of Mississippi.

Tele-Health/Telemedicine:

Continuing Education Efforts Through Tele-Health:

The Mississippi Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in conjunction with University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Information Systems, Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB), and Mississippi State Department of Education brings interactive learning experiences to the state of Mississippi.   Mississippi AHEC’s Delta AHEC Center has been the nucleus of this Tele-Health effort holding great promise for improving services and quality of life in rural communities.   The Delta AHEC center has focused on establishing and equipping the Delta AHEC targeted areas with sound technology to ensure the success of this initiative.
 

The Mississippi AHEC Program Office is focusing on installation throughout the state, meetings with UMC’s Information Systems, MPB, and State Department of Education has resulted in determining which technologies and applications will best serve the community’s needs for utilizing MPB’s Educational Television (ETV) as a central point for distribution. Our vision is to offer health education through the development of virtual classrooms, online courses by universities and community colleges, to assist community health centers and hospitals with new innovative medical processes, continuing education, transmission of a live event such as medical grand rounds or other presentation or case presentation of a patient that can be viewed at a remote location on one's computer in real time.

Systems updates are in progress which will allow completion of installationof necessary equipment to become fully functional; pilot study test will begin in the Greenville, Mississippi school district.

Online courses offered by universities and community colleges fit into this category. Transmission of a live event such as medical grand rounds or other presentation or case presentation of a patient that can be viewed at a remote location on one's computer in real time.  Partnering with ETV of the Mississippi Public Broadcasting System and the Department of Education

The Mississippi AHEC is presently working with the Delta AHEC in Greenville, MS, ETV of the Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Department of Education to implement a statewide Telehealth/Telemed conferencing program.

AHEC met with ETV/MPB and the Department of Education to discuss tapping into their new system that ETV is in the process of upgrading. We will have two-way communication for utilizing ETV/MPB as a central point for distribution with the IP Video and Video Streaming. This will also include a partnership with the Department of Education for K-12, community health centers in several AHEC counties, and hospitals through out the state. Our vision is to develop virtual classrooms that the schools can directly link to. We plan on being able to teach students about careers in health care professions, to assist community health centers with new innovative medical processes, and hospitals for CME/CE classes for residents as well as having the ability to consult with physicians during emergency or routine visits with patients.

Our mission for this program is to make it available for the whole state of Mississippi. To date, we are focusing on installing it for the areas where we have AHEC centers.

We have plans to begin registering our system with the gateway through the Department of Education. This will allow us to finish the installation of equipment needed to become fully functional starting with the school system of Greenville, Mississippi.

We will work closely with ETV to begin the process of working out a schedule along with scheduling a meeting with the superintendent of that county’s school system. We will construct curriculum that will benefit our vision and theirs. 
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