Rotation Information

In the event of exposure to blood borne pathogens, the student should notify the supervising clinician/preceptor immediately and contact University Health Service at (859) 323-2778. If the University Health Service is closed, the student should contact the on-call University Health Service physician immediately by calling (859) 323-5321 and ask the operator for the Health Service physician on-call. If the exposure is considered high risk, prophylactic treatment should begin within 2 hours of the exposure. Also, the student should inform the Regional AHEC Clinical Coordinator in the area by calling either the Regional AHEC Center or the UK AHEC Central Office at (859) 323-8018.

It should be noted that some facilities might require that students undergo a criminal background check and/or drug screening. These are not eligible for reimbursement through the AHEC office.

Each college has guidelines regarding dress and those guidelines should be respected while on an off-site rotation. If a particular institution or Voluntary Faculty member requests a specific manner of dress, the requests must be honored.

The purpose of AHEC reimbursement is to help ease financial hardship to students as a result of spending time away from the student’s home campus.

Generally, in order for a rotation to qualify for the standard rent and/or mileage stipend, the rotation must occur outside the county and over 30 miles one-way from the student’s home campus (Hazard, Lexington, Louisville, Morehead, Owensboro), and must be for a minimum of five days per week for at least three consecutive weeks at the same site. If a single rotation occurs in multiple locations, at least 50% of the rotation must take place in an AHEC designated site for the student to qualify for support. Some exceptions apply and students should contact the AHEC Central Office or their college/department to determine if the rotation qualifies for AHEC funding.

In some counties within the North Central, Northeast and Northwest regions, only certain clinical sites are eligible for AHEC support. These sites (called Population Designated Sites) are selected based upon the demographics of the population served. If the rotation site is within a population designated county, the site must be designated as AHEC eligible by the Regional AHEC Advisory Board. Those qualifications could include a high percentage of Medicaid patients or high proportion of minority patients. For more information, contact the AHEC Central Office.

If a Regional AHEC Center arranges housing and the housing site is more than 60 miles round trip to the rotation site, mileage in excess of 60 miles per day will be reimbursed by the AHEC Program and added to the round trip allocation at the time the student reconciles the AHEC account. The Regional AHEC Center will communicate to the AHEC Central Office instances of excess mileage. Students will not, therefore, be required to keep mileage records.

In cases where students elect not to use AHEC arranged housing and choose to live in housing farther from the site, or in cases where students choose to commute from Lexington or their Hub Site, daily mileage will not be reimbursed.

In some cases, students will relocate for a substantial part of their educational and/or clinical years, (eight or more months out of 12). This is termed a Clinical Hub Site and refers to the town or city where the student takes classes, attends clinicals and/or resides. In such cases, the course director will inform the AHEC Central Office of the student’s Clinical Hub Site. Students who have relocated in this way will not be eligible for AHEC support for rotations done in and around the Clinical Hub Site.

If the rotation is more than 60 miles round trip from the Clinical Hub Site and outside the HUB county, students are eligible for the rent and round trip mileage per month, provided they reside in the community where the rotation will take place.

The process for receiving AHEC financial assistance begins with completing the online AHEC Fact Sheet. Once complete with both demographic and rotation information, a notification is automatically sent to both the appropriate Regional AHEC office and AHEC Central Office.  The Fact Sheet must be complete at least one month prior to the rotation. Please note that students with multiple rotations can enter all rotations on one fact sheet. Click HERE to submit an AHEC fact sheet.

Housing allowance funds are available to students the week prior to the start date of the rotation and can be picked up in the AHEC Central Office. The housing allowance is paid in 4 or 6 week increments, depending on the student's college/department and length of rotation.  At times, rotation schedules make it difficult for students to return to campus for their checks. Please let the AHEC Central Office know if arrangements need to be made for mailing the check to you.

Students should reconcile their AHEC accounts within six months of the rotation end date. Accounts not reconciled within six months of the end date of the rotation are no longer eligible for reimbursement.

Students doing an AHEC qualified rotation outside of their Clinical Hub site may request $100 per week for housing. Only AHEC arranged housing is eligible for the housing stipend. When a Regional Center arranges housing, no pets, spouses or significant others are allowed. It is important to let the Regional Center know of any special needs and efforts will be made to accommodate them. Examples of special needs include, but are not limited to: issues of accessibility and allergies. Special needs should be listed on the Fact Sheet. If a student needs regional assistance with housing, this must be indicated on the Fact Sheet. If AHEC arranges housing and the student decides not to use the housing, notice via email, phone, or fax of the cancellation must be sent to the Regional AHEC Center and the AHEC Central Office no later than two weeks prior to the rotation. Funding will not be available for alternate housing to students who do not comply with this notification requirement and the department/program will be notified. Reminder: The Fact Sheet must be completed at least one month prior to the rotation.

Rent Receipt

Students must complete the AHEC rent receipt form and have the housing host/site sign the form. This form must be returned to the AHEC Central Office as soon as possible after the rotation end date. Any unexpended allowance must be remitted to the AHEC Central Office. Rent receipts can be obtained from the AHEC Central Office or the Central Office website. In some instances, the AHEC Central Office makes direct payment for housing to the regional AHEC, in which case the student does not receive a rent allowance and no rent receipt is required.

A student will not be reimbursed for housing if he/she lives with parents or relatives, but the student will receive the mileage allowance. 

Although every effort is made by the Regional AHEC Center to identify safe, clean and affordable housing, the University of Kentucky acting through its AHEC Central Office and/or its Regional AHEC Centers assumes no responsibility for the safety of the student and/or his/her property at the housing site. Responsibility for the conditions of the housing site is solely that of the owner site. If you have problems with AHEC arranged housing, immediately report it to the Regional AHEC Center.  As of January 2017, owners of AHEC Housing sites must pass a background check before accepting students onto their property.  

Mileage is reimbursed on a tiered scale, amounts listed are per every four weeks, based on the distance from your hub site to the location that the rotation takes place. This mileage allowance will be provided at the time of account reconciliation at the end of the rotation.

Some rotations require the student to travel between multiple sites. Additional travel expenses incurred as a result of course requirements generally are not reimbursed. If incidental travel is approved for reimbursement, the student will be reimbursed for mileage in excess of 60 miles per day at the University rate. In such instances, the student will be required to document the mileage and provide that information to the AHEC Central Office at the time of account reconciliation at the end of the rotation.

In cases where there are disputes regarding reimbursement for an AHEC rotation, the student should contact the course or training director. The course or training director in cooperation with the UK AHEC Central Office will determine eligibility.

The Off-Site Rotation Assessment Form has been developed for the AHEC Program with multiple purposes in mind. First, this assessment will be used to monitor how well student needs have been met.  To accurately evaluate how well the program meets student needs and expectations, student input is critical.  

Every student and resident is expected to complete the assessment form within one week of the completion of his or her off-site rotation.  Students with multiple rotations will need to complete an assessment form for each rotation.  The information provided will be considered confidential.  Again, student feedback is critical to ensuring the community-based experiences are beneficial to the student’s education.

The assessment form evaluates three specific aspects of the off-site rotation:

• The administrative aspects of the AHEC Program,  
• The students attitude and understanding of the off-site experience and,  
• The educational experience of the off-site rotation.

Once again, the assessment should be completed no later than one week following the completion of the rotation and before settlement of the reimbursement account with the central office.

FOR ANY QUESTIONS OR FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING OFF-SITE ROTATIONS PLEASE CONTACT THE AHEC CENTRAL OFFICE.

Click HERE to submit an off-site assessment form.