An organization or system of health, educational and service institutions whose policy and programs are frequently under the direction of a medical school or university health science center and whose prime goals are to improve the distribution, supply, quality, utilization, and efficiency of health personnel in relation to specific medically underserved areas. The primary objectives are to educate and train the health personnel specifically needed by that underserved community and to decentralize health manpower education, thereby increasing manpower supplies and providing a linkage between the health and educational institutions in scarcity areas. In practice, each AHEC has as its nucleus one or more public or nonprofit hospitals, some distance away from the medical school or university health science center, but whose educational efforts are under the effective guidance of such medical center. The development of AHECs is assisted by HEW under the HMKIA authority.
Area Health Education Centers are collaborative efforts between health science centers (such as university hospitals and medical schools) and local communities to foster health professions education. These centers arose from concerns about the supply, distribution, retention, and quality of health professionals. A major focus for AHECs is the shortage of primary care physicians in rural (underserved) areas. The name arose from a 1970 report by the Carnegie Commission which recommended the development of a nationwide system of “Area Health Education Centers.” Since the early 1970s, federal and state support has made the implementation of AHEC programs possible in many states. Each center is unique.