NEW YORK, N.Y., June 7, 2016 – The Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) honored three industry leaders in primary care at its Annual Spring Gala last night at Pier Sixty in Manhattan. This year’s honorees were Lindsay C. Farrell, MBA, President and CEO of Open Door Family Medical Centers; Ram Raju, MD, MBA, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals; and Pat Wang, JD, CEO of Healthfirst.
The Annual Spring Gala is PCDC’s signature event to celebrate the successes in primary care. The honorees were chosen in recognition of their leadership and embodiment of PCDC’s goal to ensure quality Primary Care for All!
“Primary care at its best catalyzes communities to become healthier, and spurs economic growth,” said PCDC CEO Louise Cohen, MPH. “This year’s gala honorees demonstrate every day that robust, high quality, and accessible primary care is essential to the communities that they serve.”
“Primary care has the ability to manage patients across the continuum care, in the community where the patients live,” said Ms. Farrell. “It is wonderful that policymakers are now recognizing the importance of the basic relationship between a physician or nurse practitioner and his or her patient.”
PCDC has a strong history of bringing together practice and policy leaders to advance primary care. In March, the PCDC Innovation Circle Annual Summit addressed the significant underfunding of primary care, and featured Gala honoree Lindsay Farrell as one of the event panelists.
“Primary care is still undervalued in terms of the economics of the delivery system,” said Ms. Wang. “There’s more work that needs to be done, more resources that need to be provided to advance primary care.”
“NYC Health + Hospitals has been working with PCDC for many years,” said Dr. Raju. “We value PCDC for its strong voice in favor of primary care, and believe that it is a great tool for developing primary care in New York City.”
More than 600 guests were in attendance at this year’s PCDC Gala, which was generously sponsored by athenahealth. Information and photos from the gala can be found at www.pcdcgala.org.