PCPCC 2018 Advanced Primary Care Leadership Awards Underscore Diversity

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 2, 2018

CONTACT: Allison Gross, (202) 417-2075, agross@pcpcc.org

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) announced the recipients of its 2018 advanced primary care leadership awards, which honors diverse members of the clinical team involved in providing high value primary care and shaping the policies that support such care.

Dr. Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, will receive the prestigious Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award. Dr. Scharmaine Lawson, FNP, FAANP, FAAN, will receive the Primary Care Community/Research Leadership Award, and AppleCare Medical Group, Part of OptumCare will receive the Advanced Primary Care Practice Award during the PCPCC’s Annual Awards Dinner on November 8, 2018.

Dr. DeSalvo is at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas-Austin in the Divisions of Primary Care and Value-Based Health. Prior to her position at Dell Medical School, she served in the U.S. government as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology from 2014 to 2016. She was concurrently Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2014 until 2017. Both of these governmental positions were presidential appointments. In addition, she served as the City of New Orleans Health Commissioner from 2011 through 2014.

“Dr. DeSalvo is a visionary leader and it’s an honor to recognize her,” said PCPCC’s President and CEO, Ann Greiner. “During her remarkably varied career, she has worked tirelessly to transform healthcare delivery through technology, medical education, and community building. It is particularly inspiring that Dr. DeSalvo has insisted on improving primary care access in order to reduce inequities and improve health.”

“I am honored and humbled to be recognized by an organization that has been the leader in our national understanding of the critical centrality of advanced primary care and the patient-centered medical home to better health for all people,” said Dr. DeSalvo.

Dr. Lawson, CEO of Advanced Clinical Consultants, will receive the Primary Care Community/Research Leadership Award for her inspiring work as a nurse practitioner in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Lawson started the first nurse practitioner-owned house call practice in Louisiana in order to improve access to primary care. To further extend the reach of her work, she has written Housecalls 101, a best-selling book, that outlines how to start a successful house call practice. In addition, Dr. Lawson created the book series and accompanying doll, Nola The Nurse®, which introduces young children to the world of advanced practice nursing.

“Dr. Lawson is an exceptional nurse practitioner whose work, practice, and commitment directly align with PCPCC's vision for primary care,” said David Hebert, CEO of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). "From her outstanding efforts to provide and connect patients with vital primary care during and after Hurricane Katrina, to her leadership in founding the first nurse practitioner-owned house call practice in Louisiana, Dr. Lawson is the epitome of a team-based, community-aligned health care provider. AANP is delighted that she is being honored in such a meaningful way."

The PCPCC will also present the AppleCare Medical Group with the Advanced Primary Care Practice Award, recognizing the organization’s commitment to team-based care, with a focus on care transition services for post-discharge visits. Over the past year, the clinic has seen a sharp decline in hospital readmission rates due to its post-discharge services. These results are driven by dedicating a post-discharge “patient coach,” a collaborative approach to follow-up visits, and supporting continuous patient and family engagement.

“AppleCare Medical Group is an extraordinary example of primary care,” said Bill Kramer, Executive Director for National Health Policy at the Pacific Business Group on Health. “Most impressive is the clinic’s commitment to patient-centeredness, evident in their deployment of patient coaches who support their site’s patients through every step of the transition process.”

The awards will be presented on November 8, 2018, 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

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About the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

Founded in 2006, the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (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.

About the Barbara Starfield Award and Past Awardees

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: 

• Dr. Starfield posthumously in April 2012
• Dr. Richard Baron, MD, President and CEO, ABIM Foundation, in 2013
• Debra L. Ness, M.S., President, National Partnership for Women & Families, in 2014
• Dr. Calvin Sia, MD, FAAP, in 2015
• Dr. Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, FACOEM, Global Director of Transformation, HealthTeamWorks, in 2016
• Dr. Michael Fine, Senior Population Health and Clinical Services Officer, Blackstone Valley Community Health Care, in 2017