Dr. Darrell G. Kirch is president and CEO of the Association of American Medical
Colleges (AAMC), which represents the nation's medical schools, teaching hospitals, and
academic societies. A member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies,
Kirch is a distinguished physician, educator, and medical researcher.
Prior to becoming AAMC president in 2006, Kirch served for six years as senior vice
president for health affairs, dean of the college of medicine, and CEO of the Milton S.
Hershey Medical Center at The Pennsylvania State University. Before joining Penn State,
Kirch served as dean and senior vice president for clinical activities at the Medical
College of Georgia from 1994 to 2000. In addition to these leadership roles, he also co-chaired
the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting body for U.S.
medical schools, and he now serves as a member-at-large of the National Board of
Medical Examiners and on the board of directors of Research!America.
A psychiatrist and clinical neuroscientist by training, Kirch began his career at the
National Institute of Mental Health, becoming the acting scientific director of the institute
in 1993 and receiving the Outstanding Service Medal of the United States Public Health
Service. A native of Denver, he earned his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of
Colorado, which in 2002 recognized him with its Silver and Gold Alumni Award.
Investing in Our Health Care Future President Obama’s budget blueprint includes some wise investments that will yield long-term benefits for the health of all Americans. First, the administration’s proposed $1 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes the need for sustained, predictable growth in the nation’s medical research enterprise. This boost to NIH funding will help find new cures and treatments; strengthen our economy by creating skilled and high-paying jobs; and produce new products, industries, and technologies. Second, the president’s proposal assumes no decreases in Medicare funding, while at the same time recommends $371 billion to… Read more
Moving Forward Rarely, if ever, does history hand us a "right" time or opportunity to get things done, especially on an issue as complex and as personal as health care reform. But if, as the President observes, “after nearly a century of trying” we are closer than ever to achieving health care reform, Congress and the Administration would be remiss to “walk away” now. While improving the nation’s health through comprehensive reform remains our goal, taking that first legislative step, no matter how small, may be the only way to ultimately get there. As a nation, we then will have overcome the decades-long hurdle… Read more
More Insured, Not Enough Doctors? Will there be a doctor in the house when I need one? There are three issues that worry Americans about health care: Will there be a doctor in the house when I need one? Will I be able to pay the bill? And will the system and its people care for me? While answers to the second question—access to insurance-- are now coming into sharper focus, the issues of whether we will have enough doctors and whether we will achieve the kind of reform that results in well-coordinated, patient-centered systems of integrated care, are still largely unsettled.… Read more
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are one example of the tools that have been proposed to improve health care financing and delivery. By assigning a group of physicians the responsibility for patient care quality and overall annual Medicare spending, ACOs seek to better integrate traditionally "silo-ed" providers. But, like other promising tools (such as the medical home), ACOs have yet to be well defined, implemented, and widely tested in real world settings. In short, there is a knowledge gap between conceptualizing these tools and actually creating a care delivery system that works. What is needed today is the ability to test… Read more
Senator Kennedy was an extraordinary legislator and health care leader. In addition to his longstanding commitment to quality health care for all Americans and his many years chairing the Senate HELP committee, Senator Kennedy was responsible for hundreds of bills that have changed the American health care landscape. The outcomes of his numerous legislative accomplishments are so ingrained in our culture that it is difficult to remember a time when our nation didn’t seek to support individuals who were disabled or mentally ill, fund education and treatment for AIDS, or protect workers from losing health insurance if they changed… Read more
What usually is a relatively quiet summer recess period instead has been marked by some of the most rancorous discussions we have ever seen. In this type of environment, there can be no “winners.” In fact, what gets lost is an important opportunity for citizens to dialogue with policymakers, and to understand better the complexity of the challenges we face in health care reform. Whether or not the media have exaggerated the extent of these heated forums—and despite the fact that much of the inflammatory rhetoric appears to have been incited by some who hold more extreme views—we cannot afford… Read more
The issue of cost containment is one of the most complex matters we face in health care reform, and one where there is no shortage of good ideas, particularly with regard to new models of care delivery (e.g., accountable care organizations, medical homes). What’s missing from exchanges such as the one between CBO Director Doug Elmendorf and Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) at last week’s Senate Budget Committee hearing is knowing how these models work in an environment free of the reimbursement disincentives, regulatory constraints, and other barriers that currently hamper our system. With Congress on the verge of eliminating… Read more
Last week’s hospital industry agreement helps to fulfill two key principles that the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) established for health care reform last year—that all Americans should have health care coverage, and that existing safety net mechanisms be supported and preserved until new ones are in place. Our nation’s teaching hospitals, which provide 71 percent of all hospital-based charity care, are often the only source of specialized services in their communities. The AAMC strongly supports this new agreement and appreciates this thoughtful approach to guarantee the safety net as we transition to a better system. Specifically, the… Read more
Whether through the rapid detection and response to a health threat like H1N1, or through disease prevention and health promotion, the nation’s health depends upon well-funded and effective public health systems. The nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals, as part of this broad infrastructure, contribute scientific discoveries, clinical care, and health professions training. However, the impact of these efforts is diminished in the context of an underfunded public health infrastructure. Through a cooperative agreement established with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nine years ago, the Association of American Medical Colleges has encouraged medical schools and residency programs to… Read more
Despite the many editorials and opinion pieces protesting otherwise, when it comes to addressing our nation’s health care issues, comparative effectiveness research (CER) is just “good science.” New investments in CER and related studies are critical to converting biomedical discoveries into more effective and more affordable health care services. These CER studies can extend beyond comparing two treatments to include knowledge translation from “laboratory bench to bedside,” different approaches to patient engagement, and new models of health care delivery. But with so much at stake, and with so many possible medical conditions to be considered, how do we determine which… Read more
Our focus first and foremost must be on improving patient care, which includes addressing issues of coordination and continuity. According to a recent study by Jencks et al. in the April 2, 2009 New England Journal of Medicine, almost 20 percent of Medicare hospital patients in 2003-04 were readmitted within 30 days of discharge. Over half of these patients had not visited an outpatient provider between their initial hospitalization and readmission. Hospitals and individual providers must better align care and patient coordination between hospital, ambulatory, and other settings. New investments in health information technology should be used to… Read more
Related Link: http://www.aamc.org/about/leadership/ontherecord.htm
