HOW AN ACADEMIC HEALTH-CENTER AND A COMMUNITY-HEALTH CENTER FOUND COMMON GROUND

Despite their divergent missions, academic health centers (AHCs) and c ommunity health centers (CHCs) are natural partners. This is becoming more obvious as national attention is focused on greatly increasing th e number of primary care providers. AHCs are responding to this pressu re and now need more sites to train primary care physicians, and CHCs need more primary care physicians (the AHCs' graduates) as staff. Thus these two types of institutions have a common interest. Other major t hemes of health care reform are also likely to drive AHCs and CHCs tog ether, such as providing access to the uninsured, placing more emphasi s on prevention and public health, and coordinating care in managed ca re systems to improve outcomes and control costs. Yet partnerships bet ween these two kinds of institutions are still rare. This article desc ribes a successful joint program begun in 1991 between the Lincoln Hei ghts Health Center, which serves a poor, predominantly black community , and the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. All the program's a ctivities are monitored by a policy committee made up of representativ es from both institutions. For the first five years, the main hospital of the medical center is supporting the relationship with a $350,000 grant. Both parties retain their independent governance, yet collabora te closely and feel the relationship yields high value to each party a nd the community. For example, medical education in out-of-hospital se ttings has increased greatly, as have referrals to the AHC. The CHC ha s been able to recruit and retain high-quality physicians; its balance sheet has been favourably affected also. The collaboration has enable d both institutions to provide high-quality, cost-effective care, adn may make the survival of each more likely as managed care becomes more widespread. The authors explain why they think the program has experi enced few problems so far, and give advice to AHCs and CHCs who may wi sh to form similar unions.