Area Health Education Centers: what are they and where are they going?

Area Health Education Centers (AHECs) were one of the recommendations arising from the 1970 report of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, Higher Education and the Nation's Health: Policies for Medical and Dental Education. Subsequently, three separate federal programs were implemented. Since issuance of the commission's report, major changes have occurred in the health field. Many of the assumptions and predictions prevailing at the time of the report are now being questioned, leading to a need to reassess the policies underlying the AHEC concept. Enough time has elapsed that the AHEC programs can be evaluated in terms of the policies leading to their original recommendation, but they are still embryonic and diverse enough that they have not themselves become fixed policy. It is crucial at this stage of their development that the programs be assessed not only in relationship to each other but also in the context of the other programs and policies which together with AHECs presently comprise our unplanned national health strategy.