WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) announced the recipients of its 2017 advanced primary care leadership awards, which honor diverse members of the clinical team involved in providing high value primary care or shaping related policies that support such care.

Michael Fine, MD, will receive the prestigious Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award. Richard Bryce, DO, will receive the Advanced Primary Care Practice Award, and the nursing-led Health Wagon will receive the Primary Care Community/Research Leadership Award. The awards will be presented during the evening of its Annual Conference at the PCPCC’s Annual Awards Dinner on October 11, 2017. 

 

Dr. Fine holds the titles of Health Policy Advisor to Mayor James Diossa of Central Falls, Rhode Island, as well as Senior Population Health and Clinical Services Officer at Blackstone Valley Community Health Care (BVCHC). In addition to these roles, Dr. Fine is the driving force behind the Central Falls Neighborhood Health Station, which is slated to open in 2018, and will provide all health services, including primary care and population health, for most of the municipality’s residents. 

 

“We are elated to recognize Dr. Fine,” said PCPCC’s President and CEO, Ann Greiner. “As a family physician, community organizer, and advocate, Dr. Fine has devoted his career to reforming primary care to better reduce costs, improve access, and help the underserved community. He has also been a policy leader, successfully driving primary care and public health collaboration.”

 

“There is no greater honor than to receive the Barbara Starfield Award,” said Dr. Fine. “Dr. Starfield's lifetime of research and advocacy helped me understand the important relationship between health equity and democracy as well as the reason that primary care must be at the center of a health care system.” 

 

Dr. Bryce will receive the Advanced Primary Care Practice Award for his innovative work at the Community Health and Social Services (CHASS) Center’s primary care practice. As a family physician and chief medical officer at CHASS Center in Southwest Detroit, Dr. Bryce is passionate about promoting a healthy lifestyle to his patients. He champions the Fresh Prescription Program, in which he and other providers prescribe fresh fruits and vegetables to their patients from the clinic-based farmers market.  

 

“The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) applauds Dr. Bryce for his distinctive and innovative approaches to health care delivery,” said Adrienne White-Faines, CEO of AOA. “By utilizing readily-accessible neighborhood resources, he is empowering and motivating his patients to pursue healthier lifestyles.” 

 

The PCPCC will also present the Health Wagon with the Primary Care Community/Research Leadership Award, recognizing the organization’s commitment to ensuring that primary care is foundational to the community. The Health Wagon is a nonprofit organization founded in 1980 that provides mobile health services to the medically underserved in Southwest Virginia. The organization has more than 9,000 annual patient encounters for which patients receive comprehensive primary and preventive health care services. 

 

“The Health Wagon is highly honored to receive such a prestigious award that recognizes our commitment to rural and public health,” said Dr. Teresa Gardner Tyson, executive director of the Health Wagon. “Primary care is essential to the health and well-being of any community.”

 

The awards will be presented on Oct 11, 2017, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the PCPCC’s Annual Awards Dinner in Washington, DC. Learn more about the event by visiting the PCPCC website. 

Editor's Note: To schedule an interview with Ann Greiner or any of the award recipients, contact Allison Gross at 202-417-2075, or agross@pcpcc.org.

 

Founded in 2006, the PCPCC is a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to advancing an effective and efficient health care system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). The PCPCC achieves its mission through the work of its executive members, experts, thought leaders, and other stakeholders focused on key issues of delivery reform, payment reform, patient engagement, and benefit design to drive health system transformation. For more information or to become an executive member, visit www.pcpcc.org.

 

The Barbara Starfield Award, sponsored again this year by Anthem, was established in 2012 to honor the work of Dr. Barbara Starfield, whose distinguished career at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health spanned more than five decades and included seminal research that highlighted the critical role of primary care in driving health system transformation. Below are the past recipients of the Barbara Starfield Award, which recognizes exceptional work toward advancing the goals of primary care and person-focused care: