In Brief: AMA Grants Millions To Midwest Medical Schools; Minnesota Blues Grant Money To Fight Healthcare Disparities

AMA Grants Millions To Midwest Medical Schools

The American Medical Association has awarded a $1.1 million grant to the University of Michigan Medical School to help train physicians in new ways.

The linchpin of the grant will be Michigan's creation of the M-Home, a community of faculty mentors, advisors and clinical care settings that each medical school student will be assigned to for the entire time they're in the program.

The AMA has selected 11 medical schools nationwide to receive grants in order to create more flexible and creative medical school curricula. Three of them are in the Midwest, including Michigan, the Mayo Medical School in Minnesota, and the Indiana University School of Medicine.

“Our new curriculum will ensure we produce doctors who will be ready to lead changes in different aspects of healthcare that will have an impact on patients and their communities,” said Rajesh Mangrulkar, M.D., Michigan's associate dean for medical student education, associate professor of internal medicine and medical education, and principal investigator of the proposal.

The proposal also provides students the opportunity to develop leadership and management skills, applying them to areas such as quality and safety, global health and health disparities, and bioethics.

Mayo's grant proposal focuses on teaching students to be able to practice in a patient-centered environment. Indiana University proposes to create a virtual healthcare system and a teaching electronic medical record.

Minnesota Blues Grant Money To Fight Healthcare Disparities

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota's Center for Prevention has granted $1.8 million to 13 organizations within the state to address healthcare disparities related to tobacco use, lack of access to healthy food and lack of physical activity.

The organizations, primarily healthcare related non-profits in the Minneapolis area, will use the funds to address some or all of the specific disparities. They were selected as part of a competitive bidding process which included applications and site visits.

“Until Minnesota addresses health disparities, our state will continue to struggle with preventable disease, and its associated costs, at unnecessary levels,” said Janelle Waldock, director of the Minnesota Blues' Center for Prevention. “In order to change this, we must create communities where all residents not only have access to health care, but also to basic things – like walkable and bikeable streets, healthy food and smoke-free air – that reduce their likelihood of developing illnesses before they begin. The initiatives we're supporting will play a vital role – but it's only a start."