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ABIA RECEIVES $500,000 FOR Accountable Care Community Initiative recipients of a national $500,000 award to fund the Accountable Care Community (ACC) initiative, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on September 27. ACC is a collective effort aiming to create a healthier community and lessen the burden of disease in the Akron region. The funding is part of a multimillion dollar CDC Community Transformation Program that supports public health efforts to reduce chronic diseases, promote healthier lifestyles, reduce health disparities, and control health care spending. ABIA — a unique collaboration of Akron Children's Hospital, Akron General Health System, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Summa Health System, The University of Akron and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation — is the lead institution on the community grant and will collaborate with all of its founding members on the effort along with community partners, including Summit County Health District and Community Legal Aid Services. The ACC effort, focused on improving the community's health status and health care delivery while lessening the burden of disease, was launched at a national summit held in Akron in June. The project is striving to focus all T Akron-area public, private and phil- anthropic resources toward achieving improvements in population health and to closing gaps in health care delivery, through aligned or coordinated efforts and pioneering approaches. It focuses on chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, asthma and hypertension. More than 60 organizations are involved in this effort. The grant's funded efforts include fostering of community health leadership development; investigation of regional health programs; analysis of health policy NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2011 MDNEWS.COM MD NEWS Cleveland-Akron-Canton | 49 HE AUSTEN BIOINNOVATION Institute in Akron (ABIA), its founding members and several community partners are the areas including the areas of tobacco-free living, active lifestyles and healthy eating; and, identifying the areas of greatest need in Summit County. The initiative's steering committee continues to develop a community blueprint to guide Akron's development of an ACC that will further expand the efficiency of budgets and resources, and develop research to improve health through community and practice-based interventions. To learn more about the ACC initiative, visit www.abiakron.org/acc. n