News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 |
Contact: HHS Office on Women's Health
(202) 690-7650 |
HHS DESIGNATES SIX NEW NATIONAL CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
IN WOMEN'S HEALTH
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the creation of six new National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health, model academic health centers that will provide integrated and comprehensive women's health services across the United States. HHS will provide a total of nearly $1 million to support the six new centers, some of which will focus on rural women's health.
"These new centers of excellence provide innovative solutions for women seeking the best comprehensive care," Secretary Thompson said. "They are part of our continuing commitment to bring quality health care to women, including minority and underserved women across the nation. These new centers will help to develop effective approaches for improving women's health that can be adopted in communities throughout America."
The new centers announced today are at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Brown University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Arizona and the Oregon Health and Science University. The centers will serve as "one-stop shopping" models targeted to the health care needs of women. The awards are funded through HHS' Office on Women's Health.
Each of the centers will provide the following:
- An integrated model for the delivery of clinical health care services to women with an emphasis on prevention and early detection of diseases and conditions;
- A multi-disciplinary research agenda focused on women's health issues;
- Coordination between clinical services in academic centers and surrounding communities;
- Educational programs and materials for the general public and health care professionals on women's health;
- The integration of a women's health focus into medical school curriculum;
- Efforts to foster the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women in academic medical careers;
- Networking within the community to form alliances with business groups, consumer groups, scientific organizations and public policy leaders; and
- An evaluation plan to assess project outcomes and effectiveness.
"This newest generation of centers will broaden the reach of this already successful program," said Wanda K. Jones, Dr.P.H., director of the HHS Office on Women's Health. "The centers not only will provide nationwide examples of excellence in integrated women's health care, but also will strengthen our ability to continue addressing the special health concerns of women in ethnically, racially, and culturally diverse communities."
Evaluations of existing National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health have found that the approach strengthens the focus on women's health at academic medical centers. In addition, the centers provide a wide array of clinical preventive services and produce high levels of patient satisfaction.
The centers partner with the National Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health, a network of 12 community health centers and clinics that provides funding to existing community-based organizations to develop models of comprehensive, preventive care for underserved women of all races across their life span and to replicate these models in other communities and organizations.
More information on the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health is available at http://www.4woman.gov/coe.
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
Last Revised: October 3, 2003
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