Debra L. Ness, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families, to receive PCPCC’s annual Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award

STRICT EMBARGO: 11:00AM EST, Tuesday, April 29th

Contact: Staci GoldbergBelle, Analyst, Strategy & Development, 202-417-2076, staci@pcpcc.net

Debra L. Ness, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families, to receive PCPCC’s annual

Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award

PCPCC to present new leadership awards to Ted Wymyslo, MD, and the Southeast Texas Medical Associates

(WASHINGTON, DC) – April 29, 2014 – Today the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) announced that Debra L. Ness will receive the group’s prestigious Barbara Starfield Primary Care Leadership Award during their Inaugural Awards Dinner at the Annual Fall Conference, on November 12, 2014. Ms. Ness is the President of the National Partnership for Women & Families and a leading advocate for social justice and equality for women, patients, families, and consumers within the health care arena.

“We are delighted to honor Ms. Ness for her long-standing commitment to person-centered care,” said PCPCC’s CEO, Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH. “Her dedication as an advocate for the health and well-being of women and families at the individual-, practice-, community- and policy-level continues to influence innovations in care delivery that improve health care for the most vulnerable among us. We are grateful for her tireless leadership.”

The Barbara Starfield Award, sponsored this year by WellPoint, was established in 2012 to honor the work of Dr. Barbara Starfield, whose distinguished career at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health spanned over five decades, and included seminal research that highlighted the critical role of primary care in driving health system transformation. In recognition of exceptional work toward advancing the medical home and person-focused care, the award was presented to Dr. Starfield posthumously in April 2012 and to Dr. Richard Baron in November 2013.

“I am tremendously honored to be chosen for this award, and to honor Dr. Starfield’s legacy,” said Ms. Ness. “It means a great deal to me to be recognized by a group of leaders I admire so much and who share the same passion and commitment to transforming our health care system.“

“WellPoint is proud to sponsor the Barbara Starfield award as a reflection of our support for patient-centered primary care as the foundation of a high-functioning health care system,” said Amy Cheslock, Vice President of Payment Innovation for WellPoint. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to help recognize Debra Ness and the National Partnership for Women & Families as pioneers in promoting care that puts patients and families first.”

This year, the PCPCC will present two new awards that recognize leadership in the areas of primary care and patient-centered medical homes.

Ted Wymyslo, MD, former Director of the Ohio Department of Health, will receive the first Primary Care Community Leadership Award. Dr. Wymyslo, a family physician, educator, and administrator for more than 30 years, is being honored for his decades-long commitment to primary care and public health, his impressive ability to collaborate with public and private sector interests, and his authentic engagement with patients and families to advance patient-centered medical homes.

The PCPCC will also present the Southeast Texas Medical Associates (SETMA) and its Chief Executive Officer, James L. Holly, MD, with the first Patient-Centered Medical Home Practice Award.  With six clinical locations across Southeast Texas, SETMA is being presented with this award based on their exceptional dedication to achieving IHI’s Triple Aim of ”improved care, improved health and lower cost,” their focus on integrating state-of-the-art health information technology across their sites as a means to transform care delivery, and their commitment to sharing lessons learned by being the only PCMH practice in the country that has been accredited by all four of the major national certifying/recognition organizations.

“We wanted to acknowledge a remarkable community leader working to implement patient-centered medical homes in their state. Dr. Wymyslo personifies that leader with all of his impressive work in Ohio – including being the first state PCPCC affiliate in the country,” said Paul Grundy, MD, President of the PCPCC. “We also wanted to recognize an extraordinary practice that has gone the extra mile to make medical homes a reality for all of their patients and families.  Dr. Holly and his colleagues at SETMA have done just that, and are teaching all of us what they have learned along the journey.”

The awards will be presented on November 12^th, 2014 from 6:00 – 9:00 PM at the PCPCC’s Annual Fall Conference Inaugural Awards Dinner in Washington, DC. Click here to learn more about the event.

About PCPCC: Founded in 2006, the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) is dedicated to advancing an effective and efficient health 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 our five Stakeholder Centers, led by experts and thought leaders who are dedicated to transforming the U.S. health care system through delivery reform, payment reform, patient engagement, and employee benefit redesign. Today, PCPCC’s membership represents more than 1,000 medical home stakeholders and supporters throughout the U.S.

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