Envisioning a More Equitable Future: A Look Back at ACU’s 2024 Conference

Four Days of Celebration and Innovation in the Movement for Health Equity

Thank you to everyone who joined the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU) at our 2024 Conference, Envisioning Health Equity: Advancing Stakeholder-Centered Innovation! On Aug. 4-7, ACU welcomed hundreds of clinicians, administrators, public health leaders, and advocates to celebrate National Health Center Week in-person at our largest event ever. This year’s #ACUConf featured a host of highlights and “firsts” in programming, including our inaugural Behavioral Health Leadership Forum, scholarships for attendees exploring medical-legal partnerships and behavioral health, our induction of our introductory cohort of Fellows of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved, and more.

Perhaps the most important “first” of our 2024 Conference, however, was our community’s celebration of a crucial milestone in the health center movement: the record growth in our number of patients served at federally qualified health centers and lookalikes to 32.5 million nationwide, or 1 in every 10 people in the United States. That milestone came into focus at our event’s celebrations, as well as in a keynote speech from Jim Macrae, MA, MPP, Associate Administrator of the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)’s Bureau of Primary Health Care, who also noted that one in eight children now receive care from community health centers.

“We’re so excited to be together to celebrate National Health Center Week here in Washington, D.C., but also across the country,” said Amanda Pears Kelly, Executive Director of ACU. “There’s so much to celebrate . . . and so much more we can do.”

The innovation and achievements of our community also came into focus in keynote addresses on “The Urgency of Now” in addressing racial inequities in care from internationally recognized physician and leader Dr. J. Nwando Olayiwola, MD, MPH, FAAFP; the vital history of the CHC movement and the need to continue to tell our story from national public health leader and professor Dr. Feygele Jacobs, DrPH, MS, MPH; a look at challenges and opportunities in the CHC workforce from new Acting Associate Administrator of HRSA’s Bureau of Health Workforce, Dr. Candice Chen, MD, MPH; and essential strategies for workforce wellness from renowned health center advisor and workforce expert April Lewis, Director of ACU’s new National Center for Workforce Development & Training.

Exploring Innovation in Improving Access to Quality Care for All

So, too, did our community share strategies to build on these achievements in our workshops, including not only sessions on our main conference days but also two in-depth Pre-Conference Workshops and our first-ever Behavioral Health Leadership Forum. From transforming clinical practice and supporting our workforce to bolstering stakeholder involvement at all levels and furthering advocacy, our sessions explored a host of topics with experts from diverse organizations ranging from the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership and South Carolina Area Health Education Center to Zero Suicide and Codman Square Health Center. The common threads in so many of the workshops, however, were the importance of reinforcing the whole-person care that is the hallmark of health centers—and supporting the essential well-being of the workforce that makes it possible.

The need to recognize the historical currents of “race and place” that have impacted so many patients’ access to care was the spotlight of Dr. Olayiwola’s keynote, and a panel of national leaders from HRSA, the National Hispanic Health Foundation, the Centene Corporation, and Cherokee Health Systems examined solutions to address the maternal health crisis influenced by factors both past and present. Other workshops and roundtable discussions explored navigating the transition to value-based care, how to build eye health and vision care services from the ground up at health centers, integrating more inclusive approaches to social drivers of health and disability, and more. As Dr. Constance Tucker, DO, of Ascend Healthcare, noted, “there’s no wrong door. Everyone is welcome, and we as CHCs should be there for patients no matter what.”

That care itself, however, is only made possible by our workforce, and sessions also explored innovative pathways to retention and recruitment alike at health centers. “We want to change from a culture of scarcity to a culture of abundance—and our abundance is people,” said Tory Starr, Chief Executive Officer of Open Door Community Health Centers, in a case study of how Open Door became a learning organization to overcome constant challenges and mitigate burnout in staff. Other sessions touched on the importance of embracing neurodiversity in inclusive workplaces, the need to support not only patients but staff at risk for suicide, and essential strategies to foster compensation equity at CHCs.

These sessions found an attendance not only from staff at health centers, primary care associations, federal agencies, and other organizations across the United States, but also a host of sponsors and supporters, including the Centene Corporation, The Inline Group, CHCollective, Methodist Healthcare Ministries, On Belay Health Solutions, UnitedHealthcare, Ascend Healthcare, Corporate Transcendence, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Pfizer.

Honoring the Inaugural Cohort of the Fellowship of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved

Additionally, ACU also celebrated the induction of the inaugural cohort of the Fellowship of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved at our Conference Reception, which included:

• Gretchen Bellamy, JD, LLM, of Piedmont Health Services
• Adrian Billings, MD, PhD, FAAFP, of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
• Bridgitte Gourley, MSN, DNP, FNP-BC, of University of Maryland School of Nursing
• Parinda Khatri, PhD, of Cherokee Health Systems
• Saini Kundapati, MD, MPH, CCEP, CHC, PCMH, CCE, of Piedmont Health Services
• Tareq Nabhan, OD, of University of Missouri – St. Louis
• Benjamin Oldfield, MD, MHS, of Fair Haven Community Health Care
• Douglas Olson, MD, of Optimus Healthcare
• Jan Lee Santos, MD, MHA, of Piedmont Health Services
• Lisa Skinner, MSHA, BSN, BA, CCM, CMCN, CLP, of Wellington Regional Medical Center
• Nataly Tellez, MBA, of California Primary Care Association

Learn more about each Fellow in our announcement or read about the Fellowship.

Uplifting Our Voices for the National Health Service Corps

#ACUConf also lifted the voices of our community in shared advocacy to protect the vital health extender programs, including the National Health Service Corps, that help make our health center workforce possible. In addition to a dedicated session on NHSC advocacy, the Conference closed with a rousing call to advocates in an election year. The latter featured a special appearance from Max Kanner, Health Policy Advisor to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who reminded attendees of the importance of advocacy and that some of the most important words in Washington are, “Let me tell you a story.”

As our community knows, the NHSC still faces inadequate funding, with roughly 70% of total NHSC funding set to expire on December 31, 2024. But now, as ever, Jordan Marshall, ACU’s Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy noted, “Your voice as an advocate is what matters.” Our Conference attendees took that to heart: 32 attendees representing 17 states took to Capitol Hill on Aug. 7 in support of the Corps and health centers. Over the course of the day, numerous attendees spoke with legislators and their staff—from MI and CA to WA and MO—to remind them of the crucial need to support our community and the millions of patients in medically underserved communities that depend on clinicians from the NHSC for access to care.