According to the Association of Academic Health Centers, an AHC, as defined by various national organizations, consists of an allopathic or osteopathic medical school, at least one other health professions school or program, and at least one affiliated or owned teaching hospital. The Commonwealth Task Force on Academic Health Centers defined an AHC as the medical school and its affiliated or owned clinical facilities. The missions of the AHC generally consists of providing the highest standards of clinical care and treating the most complex illnesses, conducting clinical, laboratory and health sciences research, educating future health professionals, and engaging with the community. The Association of American Medical Colleges does not explicitly define an AHC, but focuses its efforts on medical schools and their teaching hospitals. From an organizational standpoint, AHCs are an allopathic medical school, other health professions schools within the university, and a clinical enterprise. Academic Health Center and Academic Medical Center terminologies are interchangeable, but because an AHC is more than a medical school, we prefer the term Academic Health Center at UNLV.
Academic Health Centers are typically not a single institution but represent the concerted efforts of universities, programs, and hospitals to improve the care of a community through research, education, patient care, and community engagement. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the core of an Academic Health Center is the university as it is that entity that strives for excellence in education, community engagement, and research. Participation in an AHC does not preclude member institutions from pursuing partnerships outside of the AHC for educational, clinical, or scholarly purposes.
Although academic health centers account for only about 5% of all hospitals, they deliver a disproportionate amount of care for:
- Medicare and Medicaid patients
- Uninsured individuals
- Transfer of patients with complex needs
- Trauma and burn patients
- Cancer patients
The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine is currently a member of the Association of Academic Health Centers, the national organization that represents AHCs. Membership in the AAHC will allow UNLV to share best practices with university programs and UMC. There is no central credentialing body for AHCs in the US. Their programs are accredited through the joint commission (JCAHO), ACGME, LCME, and others.