[1] AHECs affiliated with the NAO collaborate to educate, share resources, and strengthen local and national partnerships.
Development of the AHEC system began when the first programs were funded by Congress in 1971 as a national strategy to improve the supply, distribution, retention, and quality of primary care and other health practitioners in medically underserved areas.
[4] In this landmark report, the Carnegie Commission noted a significant healthcare workforce shortage and urgently recommended immediate “restructuring of the education of health manpower”[5] to increase by fifty percent over the following decade the number of centers that train physicians.
[6] The commission's broad recommendations also included workforce development of nursing, pharmacy, and allied health professions.
The NAO holds a policy conference each spring and fall, as well as a biannual national meeting in alternating summers.