Leading Health Organizations Commit Another $400,000 to Health Equity

Grants to support DEI in education and training now total $1.6 million since 2021

In a time when efforts to advance equity and inclusion face severe challenges, forward-thinking health care organizations are dedicating an additional $400,000 for internal medicine residents, fellows, and faculty working to eliminate inequity, bringing the total to more than $1.6 million since 2021.

Sponsored by the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the ABIM Foundation, the American College of Physicians (ACP), and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Building Trust Through Diversity, Health Care Equity, Inclusion and Diagnostic Excellence in Internal Medicine Training grant program will support interprofessional projects focused on improving trust and advancing health equity in the health care system.

Of this funding, $100,000 is specifically allocated for grants supporting projects designed to enhance diagnostic excellence and address disparities based on patient factors such as economic/education status, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, geography, age, and disability.

The remaining funds will be available for two types of projects:

• Education-driven proposals that focus on providing training, skill, and competency acquisition with the goal of promoting trustworthiness through equitable outcomes.
• Proposals that focus on engineering care delivery to promote trustworthiness and equity.

Examples of successful projects could include:

• Training programs that incorporate DEI principles and employ best practices from inter-professional education.

• Projects that focus on the intersection of artificial intelligence and equity.
• Innovative approaches to create collaborative partnerships between health systems and community-based service organizations in under-resourced communities.

Letters of intent will be accepted through March 18, 2024, and selected applicants will be invited to submit a formal proposal. Grants of $10,000, $20,000, and $40,000 will be awarded in late summer 2024.

In 2021, $287,500 was awarded to 32 projects, including the development of training programs that foster understanding and empathy among internal medicine residents to build trust with patients. In 2022, $400,000 in funding supported 24 projects, such as modernizing data sharing to enhance patient engagement with physicians by challenging residents to critically evaluate their charting language. In 2023, $470,000 was awarded to 20 projects, encompassing initiatives like workshops designed to instill cultural competence in internal medicine residents.

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About the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine AAIM represents over 12,000 academic internal medicine faculty and administrators at medical schools and community-based teaching hospitals in the US and Canada. Its mission is to promote the advancement and professional development of its members, who prepare the next generation of internal medicine physicians and leaders through education, research, engagement, and collaboration. Follow AAIM on Twitter @AAIMOnline.

About the American Board of Internal Medicine
Since its founding in 1936 to answer a public call to establish more uniform standards for physicians, certification by the ABIM has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 21 subspecialties. Certification has meant that internists have demonstrated – to their peers and to the public – that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. ABIM is not a membership society, but a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public.

About the ABIM Foundation
The ABIM Foundation’s mission is to advance medical professionalism to improve the health care system by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policymakers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice. To learn more about the ABIM Foundation, visit www.abimfoundation.org and connect on LinkedIn.

About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 161,000 internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on X, Facebook and Instagram.

About the Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationThe Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit www.moore.org or follow @MooreFound.

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