Two new reports released by leading professional associations and foundations recommend new core competencies for interprofessional education as well as action strategies to implement them across the country. The goal of the reports is to transform the nation’s health care system to provide collaborative, high quality, cost effective care for every patient.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and ABIM Foundation issued Team-Based Competencies: Building a Shared Foundation for Education and Clinical Practice. The result of a February 2011 conference that brought together leaders from 80 health professions to preview core competencies, the report includes five action strategies designed to transform health professional education and health care delivery in the United States. The action strategies address:

1. communication and dissemination of the new core competencies;
2. development of interprofessional faculty and resources;
3. strengthening of metrics and research;
4. development of new collaborative academic practices and new collaborations with community learning sites; and
5. advancement of policy changes.

The action steps support the core competencies in a companion report, Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice, produced by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC)—a collaboration of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Dental Education Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Association of Schools of Public Health.