AAPA - American Academy of Physician Assistants
01/09/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/09/2025 09:16
AAPA, PAF to Lead Impactful Projects in 2025
AAPA, PAF to Lead Impactful Projects in 2025
January 9, 2025
By Jennifer Orozco-Kolb DMSc, PA-C, DFAAPA
A new year is upon us, and what a busy year it will be!
AAPA and the Physician Associate Foundation (PAF) are working on several key projects aimed at improving healthcare and addressing health disparities across the country. These projects have wide-reaching impacts - from improving colorectal cancer screening rates and mental healthcare services in schools, to working to diversify the PA profession.
As AAPA's Chief Medical Officer, this work further illustrates the critical role of PAs in healthcare today.
Exact Sciences
In 2024, AAPA and PAF received a grant from Exact Sciences to investigate ways to improve colorectal cancer screening rates. The project consists of three phases.
The first phase, which is wrapping up, includes focus group meetings with four federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in Wisconsin and Arizona that previously received Exact Sciences funding to complete projects that improved colorectal cancer screening rates. These FQHCs were selected because they often serve underserved or uninsured patients who are less likely to access and complete colorectal cancer screenings.
These focus group meetings will be completed by February, when the second phase of the project will begin. This phase involves taking lessons learned and best practices gathered during the focus groups and creating an innovative toolkit that can be widely used by providers across the country to improve their own colorectal cancer screening rates.
The third phase, expected to begin in Fall 2025, will consist of taking the newly developed toolkit and implementing changes at select clinics across the country to measure outcomes. Recruitment for potential pilot sites for this phase will begin over the summer.
PArtnership to Improve Student Mental Health
In an effort to continue addressing mental health needs, AAPA and PAF received grants from two organizations - the RBC Foundation USA and The Cigna Group Foundation - to fund the PArtnership to Improve Student Mental Health.
With the RBC Foundation project, a handful of PAs across the country received mental health training in late 2024. In 2025, those PAs will partner with a school district in their area to provide mental health training to school staff. The goal is to better prepare staff to handle mental health challenges students may experience in the classroom.
The Cigna grant for this project focuses on the state of Pennsylvania. Five PAs will undergo similar mental health trainings in January or February and then partner with schools or community organizations to lead their own mental health training.
PAthways
AAPA is committed to helping diversify the PA profession. With this in mind, AAPA and PAF received funding from two organizations - Pfizer and the Colorado Health Foundation - to lead a program called PAthways.
The PAthways program connects underrepresented minority students with mentors in the hope of providing a clearer pathway to apply to PA school. Through these relationships, underrepresented students will gain insights into the application process, the PA profession, and foster invaluable connections with practicing PAs.
The Pfizer PAthways program is underway, with 20 mentors and more than 30 students taking part. Students participating represent four universities: Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, Howard University in Washington, D.C., Rutgers University in Newark, and Baruch College in New York City.
Mentorship will continue through the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.
The Colorado Health Foundation PAthways project remains in a recruitment phase to identify mentors and mentees who are located within the state, primarily the Western Slope region. Students and mentors in this program will be invited to AAPA 2025 in Denver where they will be able to meet each other in person and continue to form a strong bond.
Work with this project is split in two phases - one for the 2025 calendar year, and a second cohort to run from December 2025 until December 2026. The goal is to recruit 25 PA mentors and 25 mentees total across both cohorts.