CHAMPs-A Model Health Care Delivery System for Medicaid

To sustain community health centers (CHCs) and preserve access to health care for Medicaid beneficiaries and other low-income patients, the physician-authors of a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine propose a new health care delivery model: CHCs and Academic Medical Partnerships or “CHAMPs.” CHAMPs would combine the medical technology, inpatient care, and subspecialty expertise of academic health centers (AHCs) with the primary care expertise of CHCs. The authors believe that combining the best elements of AHCs and CHCs would result in high quality, cost effective care to low-income individuals while also training the next generation of professionals.