Six Midwestern universities, including Wichita State University, are sponsoring a national conference in Omaha on Sept. 11-12 to explore the important role of physician assistants in the changing world of health care.  

The conference, “Advancing Rural Primary Care,” will be held at the Hilton Omaha Hotel. In addition to WSU, five regional PA education programs are co-sponsoring the conference: University of Nebraska Medical Center, Des Moines University, Union College (Lincoln, Neb.), University of Iowa, and University of South Dakota.

Speakers will include:

• Tom Morris, associate administrator for rural health policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Robert Wergin, family physician, Milford, Neb., and president-elect, American Academy of Family Physicians
• Alan Morgan, CEO, National Rural Health Association
• Andrew Morris-Singer, president and founder, Primary Care Progress
• Robert McNellis, senior advisor for primary care, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Among the topics covered will be:

• Unique challenges of rural primary care
• Quality improvement strategies in rural health care delivery
• The maximal utilization of PAs in team-based care
• Building and sustaining rural primary care using PAs
• A federal perspective on key issues facing rural PAs

The conference is unique in that it is tailored specifically for those who hire and use PAs. It is geared toward administrators, health care leaders, academicians, policy makers, physicians and PAs.