This webpage provides resources for both establishing new Education Health Centers (EHCs) and supporting existing ones. It includes guidance on strengthening primary care workforce training partnerships and developing solutions to deliver quality care to underserved populations.

Please click or scroll down for:
Definition of an Education Health Center (EHC)
EHC Trainings
Research Resources
Other Online Resources

DEFINITION OF AN EDUCATION HEALTH CENTER (EHC)

An Education Health Center (EHC) is a community health center which serves as a training site for health professions students and residents. There are multiple pathways to becoming an Education Health Center–a much broader approach than just the limited number of federally-funded Teaching Health Centers.

Read the Education Health Center Guide (update released March 2020), intended to assist health centers (CHCs) and primary care residency programs (PCRPs) with utilizing both traditional Graduate Medical Education (GME) and Teaching Health Center GME (THCGME) funding. This 84-page electronic document provides an overview of Education Health Center models and addresses issues related to governance, administration and operations, and finance, as well as legal considerations.

Visit HRSA’s Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education webpage to learn more about Teaching Health Centers.

Visit the CHAMPS Resources for Healthcare Career Pathways webpages to learn more about training programs and resources related to health professions career pathways for students, residents, and current professionals.

View Developing an Education Health Center to read a Q&A with Kiki Nocella, PhD, MHA, about working toward becoming an EHC, the decisions along the way, and more.

Read Models of Education Health Centers by Kiki Nocella, PhD, MHA to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of health centers as sponsoring institutions, consortium partners, and outpatient training centers.

EHC TRAININGS

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Alaska Primary Care Association, and Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence
2017 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Workforce Innovations in Pipeline Development

  • Slides: Apprenticeship Program Overview
  • Slides: Recruiting Rural Nurses to Become AP RNs in Rural Colorado

BelieveHealth, LLC and Community Health of Central Washington
2013 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Becoming an Education Health Center: Strategies for Success

Clinica Family Health Services
2010 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials

Colorado Commission on Family Medicine, Community Health Center, Inc., and Wipfli
2019 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Experienced Experts Share Best Practices for Growing Your Own

Community Health Center, Inc.
2014 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Nurse Practitioner Residency Training Program: Training to Complexity; Training to a Model, Training for the Future

Community Health Center, Inc.
2018 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Workforce Pipeline: Effectively Train Health Professions Students

Duke University School of Medicine and Wipfli
2017 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Economic and Social Impact of Graduate Medical Education

  • Slides: The Social and Economic Impact of GME
  • Slides: Partners in Building and Sustaining Primary Care

Education Health Center Initiative (EHCI)
2010 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Becoming a Teaching Health Center

  • Slides: Administration and Operations
  • Slides: Becoming a Teaching Health Center
  • Slides: Finance Toolkit
  • Slides: Mission and Governance Toolkit
  • Slides: Teaching Health Centers
  • Slides: What is an Education Health Center

Education Health Center Initiative (EHCI) and Wipfli
2020 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Residencies & Beyond: Developing a Grow-Your-Own Workforce Strategy

Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP
2010 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Collaborations between Federally Qualified Health Centers and Residency Programs

Highline College, Northwest Regional Primary Care Association, and WA State Health Center of Excellence
2016 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Activating Partnerships Between Community Health Centers and Colleges for the Regional Health Workforce Benefit

Valley-Wide Health Systems, Inc.
2021 CHAMPS/NWRPCA Annual Conference Materials
Teach, Inspire, Hire – A Preceptorship Program for Recruitment & Retention

RESEARCH RESOURCES

Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
October 2010
Survey evaluates family physician training occurring in community health centers
Family Medicine Residency Training in Community Health Centers: A National Survey

May 2024
Study on strategies that can produce greater impacts, such as rural-focused medical school tracks, expanded rural GME programs, and financial incentives
Academic Medicine and Rural Health System Partnerships: Enhancing Education While Advancing Physician Workforce Priorities

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
May 2024
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded multiple Rural Residency Planning and Development (RRPD) awards to develop rural residency programs
Recruitment of Residents to Rural Programs: Early Outcomes from Cohort 1 of the Rural Residency Planning and Development Grants Program

August 2024
Expanding rural residency programs is key to addressing physician shortages, but adequate housing for residents remains a significant challenge
Housing Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Residency Development 

American Family Physician
November 2015
Study that discusses evidence that training in community-based underserved settings is associated with higher likelihood of practicing in those settings
Graduates of Teaching Health Centers Are More Likely to Enter Practice in the Primary Care Safety Net

Annals of Family Medicine
November 2009
Study that describes the facilitators and barriers to creating partnerships between community health centers and family medicine residencies
Training Residents in Community Health Centers: Facilitators and Barriers

Family Medicine
April 2010
Survey to identify barriers to training family medicine residents at community health centers
Barriers to Training Family Medicine Residents in Community Health Centers

National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)
August 2010
Case studies of FQHC-Board Residency Programs and policy recommendations for the implementation of the Teaching Health Centers Programs
Health Centers’ Contributions to Training Tomorrow’s Physicians

New England Journal of Medicine
June 2016
Article regarding the cost of training residents in the Teaching Health Center (THC) setting
The Cost of Residency Training in Teaching Health Centers

OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES

Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU)
Proposal for increased participation in teaching health centers
Training Team Players to Provide Better Health Care to the Underserved

Education Health Center Initiative (EHCI)
84 page electronic document providing an overview of Education Health Center models and addressing issues related to governance, administration and operations, and finance, as well as legal considerations
Education Health Center Guide

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Information on Teaching Health Centers, including Q&A and grant information
Teaching Health Centers

National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)
Publication offering tips and a case study for boards considering becoming a teaching health center
Becoming a Teaching Health Center: Tips for Health Center Boards
Executive Summary, 2015
Educational Health Centers: Teaching and Learning in the Community
The Policy Shop Blog article on teaching health centers
Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program (THCGME)

Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program (THCGME)
HRSA-funded Teaching Health Center Planning and Development (THCPD) technical assistance program which supports the development of newly accredited or expanded community-based primary care residency programs located at the UNC School of Medicine
THCGME
Information sheet about THCGME and THCPD that contains an overview of the programs
THCGME and THCPD Fact Sheet