CHICAGO — As part of its ongoing efforts to ensure physicians are trained to meet the needs of patients in both modern and future health systems, the American Medical Association (AMA) today announced the next phase of the AMA Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium. Each of the consortium’s 32 medical school members have committed to continuing their work together to reimagine medical education and develop new—and expand upon existing—education innovations that can be shared among medical schools nationwide. The projects being announced today include curricular innovations focused on improving student well-being, addressing social determinants of health, improving quality of patient care and enhancing patient safety.

“Our consortium of medical schools has been an invigorating and productive community of innovation over the past five years. Knowing that our work to transform medical education is far from finished, the AMA is excited to continue to foster this environment where individuals and institutions can learn from each other and innovate,” said AMA CEO and Executive Vice President James L. Madara, M.D. “This next phase of work will allow consortium schools to continue to explore new concepts and create new solutions for medical education—impacting the national direction of medical education and better preparing all of our future physicians for practice in the continually changing health care environment.”

As part of a new three-year commitment, all 32 medical schools will continue the work that began in 2013 to create the medical schools of the future—with some schools building on existing curricular innovations developed through the consortium and others generating new concepts and curricula altogether. The AMA’s goal for the work of the consortium remains focused on fostering collaboration across institutions and disseminating meaningful innovations to medical schools across the country. The AMA will continue to convene regular meetings of the consortium, providing funding for representatives of member schools to attend.

To further cultivate the innovation ecosystem needed to significantly transform medical education, the AMA also plans to expand the consortium and invite other medical schools to collaborate with the consortium in the future.

Some of the newly proposed consortium projects announced today include curricular innovations focused on improving student well-being and addressing social determinants of health. Other projects will build upon the innovations and concepts developed and implemented over the past five years by the consortium. These projects include implementing competency-based programs, a teaching electronic health record (EHR), curricula that allow medical students to be totally immersed within the health care system from day one of medical school, training in physician leadership, education in team care skills, and curricula aimed at achieving health equity and increasing diversity in the physician workforce.

Additionally, many of the new projects aim to incorporate the teaching of Health Systems Science—the third pillar of medical education identified by the consortium—to help students learn how to navigate the changing landscape of modern health systems when they enter practice, especially as the nation’s health care system moves toward value-based care.

The AMA launched its Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative in 2013 to bridge the gaps that exist between how medical students are trained and how health care is delivered in the modern health care system. Since then the AMA has awarded $12.5 million in grants to 32 of the nation’s leading medical schools to develop innovative curricula that can ultimately be implemented in medical schools across the country. These innovative models are already supporting training for an estimated 19,000 medical students who will one-day care for 33 million patients each year. 

As part of the AMA’s commitment to improving physician training across the continuum of medical education, the AMA will also soon announce a new initiative aimed at transforming residency training to better address the workforce needs of our current and future health care system.

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Editor’s Note:  A summary report was created to highlight the innovations developed by the AMA Consortium schools: “Creating a Community of Innovation: The work of the AMA Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium.”

The following AMA Wire article provides additional details about the AMA Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium: “New approach equips med school grads for tomorrow’s health system.”

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