Association of Clinicians for the Underserved

In late 2023, ACU entered a strategic partnership with JSI to undertake a new Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) initiative to help address health centers unique needs, informed by the HRSA Health Center Workforce Well-being Survey, to boost their healthcare staffs well-being and build a resilient workforce. The robust new program offers diverse training and technical assistance offerings which include communities of practice, personalized coaching, and a dedicated resource huballunited by a singular focus on helping health centers build and sustain a strong, resilient workforce to better care for their communities.ACUs leading role in supporting the health center workforce expanded still further as we partnered with Abt Associates in an evolving Health Resources & Services Administration initiative to establish a National Health Workforce Institute.Designed to advance cutting-edge practices in health workforce recruitment and retention, the Institute will serve to strengthen relationships between HRSA and those addressing workforce issues in underserved communities, to amplify HRSAs impact by collaborating and connecting key partners across federal agencies, and elevate promising practices in workforce recruitment and retention training andtechnical assistance at sites working to address workforce shortages. The first of its kind, the National Health Workforce Institute stands to organize and coalesce the invaluable and diverse partners.In 2023, ACU entered exciting new collaborations to help our network advance its understanding of medical-legal partnerships and lifestyle medicine as vital components of our shared work to advance health equity in the historically marginalized communities we serve. ACU and the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP)have announced a new partnership to shift the culture of health by helping ACU members leverage medical-legal partnership (MLP) to improvehealth equity, support access to justice, and strengthen the healthcare workforce. MLP is an evidence-based SDOH intervention that embeds lawyers as specialists in healthcare settings to resolve health-harming legal needs of patients while simultaneously strengthening the healthcare workforce by helping clinicians understand structural barriers, navigate policy issues, and transform institutional practices.ACU recently entered an exciting partnership with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) to equip hundreds of thousands of physicians with education and training to further their practice in lifestyle medicine and better treat chronic disease in underserved communities. The partnership will help clinicians treat, prevent, and even reverse lifestyle-related chronic diseases that have a disproportionate impact on underserved communities, particularly those of color. Moreover, the work and partnership is done with commitment and foundational alignment to advance each organizations mission to diversify the medical workforce.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMS - In 2023, ACU completed the sixth year in the largest effort in history to train primary care providers in suicide preventionthe Suicide Safer Care (SSC) program. Generously supported by the Centene Corporation, the SSC program provided resources for, and instructed numerous healthcare professionals in, evidence-based strategies to identify, assess, and care for patients at risk for suicide.

Star Center - Working closely with the Bureau of Primary Health Care, our Solutions, Training, and Assistance for Recruitment and Retention (STAR2) Center is the leading national organization working to build and sustain a robust health center workforce by providing resources, trainings, and technical assistance for health centers, primary care associations, health center controlled networks, and other organizations.Workforce Summit - Virtual 2023 Biennial Workforce Summit On May 23-24, ACUs STAR2 Center, Community Health Center, Inc., and the National Association of Community Health Centers united 228 unique attendees (in one day alone) from numerous CHCs and PCAs for a free, two-day CME-accredited virtual event convening diverse teams and guest speakers for two days of workforce focused learning and networking opportunities.