Bronx Dr. Runner Up for Kanter Prize for Enhancing Healthcare Delivery to Minorities and Underserved

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Photo of Dr. Neil Calman

WESTBURY, NY (08/11/2009)(readMedia)-- Bronx family physician, Neil Calman, MD, received news today that he was named runner up for the prestigious Kanter Prize from the Health Legacy Partnership for his dedication to improving the quality and availability of primary care services to medically underserved communities in New York City and the Mid-Hudson Valley. He will receive a $25,000 cash award to continue his work.

Three other doctors - from Detroit, Mississippi and a South Dakota Indian reservation - were similarly honored. The main prize of $100,000 went to a Boston doctor for creating a model for delivering healthcare to the homeless on the street.

The annual prize is named for Joseph H. Kanter, a pioneering advocate for electronic medical records. Winners were chosen from over 50 candidates by the Health Legacy Partnership (HELP) a national public/private partnership with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The awards are issued to help continue the work of physicians who have developed a system or method that has resulted in alleviating and eliminating disparities in health care delivery. Key consideration is given to innovative programs that can be broadly implemented in other US communities.

"Dr. Calman was nominated and highly recommended by the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) for his tireless efforts to eliminate racial disparities in New York City and the Mid-Hudson valley," said MSSNY Executive Vice President Rick Abrams. Dr. Calman is the co-founder, president, and chief operating officer of the Institute for Family Health, a 25 year-old non-profit health care organization dedicated to improving the quality and availability of primary care services in medically underserved communities. To accomplish this goal, the Institute operates 16 federally qualified community health centers in Manhattan, Bronx, Ulster and Dutchess Counties, providing more than 200,000 patient care visits each year to 70,000 individuals of all ages, most of whom receive Medicaid or other publicly subsidized insurance. The Institute also sponsors two residency training programs in family medicine, one in Manhattan and one in Kingston, NY, and several community-based health promotion and outreach programs.

Under Dr. Calman's leadership, the Institute has engaged in numerous activities to address persistent racial disparities in health outcomes. Of particular relevance to the to the Kanter Prize committee is the Bronx Health REACH, which works with community and faith-based organizations, health care providers and public health officials to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes in diabetes in the southwest Bronx.

Dr. O'Connell, President of Boston's Health Care for the Homeless, was awarded the main prize. The other runners up were Jeffrey Henderson, MD, President and CEO of Black Hills Center for American Indian Health in Rapid City, South Dakota; Sister Anne Brooks, DO, Founder and Director of the Tutwiler Medical Clinic in Tutwiler, Mississippi; and Herbert Smitherman Jr., MD, President and CEO of the Health Centers Detroit Foundation, Inc. in Detroit, Michigan.

For additional information about Dr. Calman, contact Lynda Lees Adams of the Medical Society of the State of New York at 516-750-7344, ladams@mssny.org

For more information about the Kanter Prize, contact Susan Paley for the Health Legacy Partnership at 703-915-6574, susanpaleyinc@gmail.com