The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has argued that patients are more likely to receive safe, quality care when health professionals work together. The NAM reports, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (2000), and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001) speak to the importance of interprofessional team-based care. Since the publication of these reports, an emerging body of research supports the idea that a team-based approach leads to better patient outcomes. As a consequence, forward-thinking healthcare delivery systems have endorsed interprofessional collaborative practice as a way to improve the quality of healthcare. IPE is the vehicle through which current and future healthcare providers are trained to work in this way.

Two important concepts- the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aim Initiative and the Affordable Care Act- inform our work at the Center.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has created the “Triple Aim” framework as a methodology to optimize health system performance. The framework includes three dimensions to be developed simultaneously. The “Triple Aim” consists of:

• An Improved patient experience of care to include increased quality and satisfaction

• A focus on improvements in population health

• The reduction of per capita cost of health care

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in March 2010. It calls for the expansion of health coverage to 30 million previously uninsured Americans, increased benefits and lower costs to consumers of healthcare, increased funding for prevention and public health, a renewed focus on healthcare workforce and infrastructure and a focus on innovations to improve healthcare quality. The outcomes of the ACA have, in part, lead to demand for more responsive healthcare systems such as Accountable Care Organizations, patient-centered medical homes, and transitional care models. All of these are defined by or enhanced by interprofessional collaboration among providers with patients and communities.

The Academic Leadership Committee provides leadership and oversight of academic programs that prepare students for interprofessional healthcare practice. Specifically, the Academic Leadership Committee is charged by the Board of Directors to guide the Center as it pursues curricular innovation supporting IPE. The committee is made up of the associate deans overseeing academic affairs within each of the participating colleges or designee. Current members are: Kristin Ashford (Nursing), Kalea Benner (Social Work), Paula Arnett (Public Health), Reny DeLeeuw (Dentistry), Chris Feddock (Medicine), Derrick Lane (Communication and Information), Carl Mattacola (Health Sciences), and Frank Romanelli (Pharmacy).

The Faculty Development Committee is charged with the creation and dissemination of continuing professional education products to enhance and support IPE. It accomplishes this with live meetings, online content hosted by UKHC CECentral, faculty retreats, and desk-side consultation. Another program supported by the committee is the IPE Faculty Fellows, a program that identifies and nurtures emerging and current leaders in IPE at the University of Kentucky and beyond.

Several committees exist to guide the interprofessional curricular components supported by the Center. Click HERE to learn more about CICHE curricular course offerings.