Heritage Provider Network and Crain's New York Business, Custom Division, Announce Judges for 4th Annual Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards

MARINA DEL REY, Calif., Feb. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Heritage Provider Network (HPN), one of the nation's leading physician-led managed care organizations, and Crain's Custom, a division of Crain's New York Business, have selected a prestigious panel of judges to evaluate candidates for the annual Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards. For the fourth year, Heritage Provider Network is partnering with Crain's Custom to recognize and honor extraordinary healthcare innovation throughout the New York metropolitan area. The innovation award was created in 2016 to spotlight organizations and leaders who have vastly improved access to quality, affordable healthcare. The goal is to recognize advances in healthcare that will ultimately help improve the lives of millions of New Yorkers. The partnering organizations chose the panel of judges for their extensive and diverse experience in the healthcare industry.

The awards will showcase those innovators who have most improved the access to and quality of affordable healthcare in the communities they serve in the greater New York area. Judges will assess the nominations to select finalists in each of the five categories.

Judges include:

• Richard Merkin, MD, Founder and CEO, Heritage Provider Network
• Mitra Behroozi, Executive Director, 1199SEIU Benefit and Pension Funds
• Stephen Berger, Chairman, Odyssey Investment Partners
• Louise Cohen, MPH, CEO, Primary Care Development Corp.
• Dr. Rosa M. Gil, President and CEO, Comunilife, Inc.
• Maria Gotsch, President and CEO, Partnership Fund for New York City
• Doug Hayes, Founder and CEO, Junto Health
• Steven Krein, CEO and Co-founder, StartUp Health
• Freda C. Lewis-Hall, MD, DFAPA, Chief Patient Officer and Executive Vice President, Pfizer, Inc.           
• Edgar Mandeville, MD, FACOG, Visiting Professor, SUNY Downstate Medical Center; Former Director, Department of OB/GYN, Harlem Hospital
• Mary OʼNeil Mundinger, DrPh, Dean Emerita, Edward M. Kennedy Professor of Health Policy in the Faculty of Nursing, Columbia University School of Nursing
• Richard Park, MD, CEO, CityMD
• Judith A. Salerno, MD, MS, President, The New York Academy of Medicine
• Michael Stocker, MD, Former CEO, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Former Board Chairman, New York City Health and Hospitals Corp.

"These prestigious judges represent the top healthcare influencers in New York," said Dr. Richard Merkin, Founder and CEO of HPN. "Their decisions will pave the way for the next set of innovators working to make amazing changes in healthcare delivery for not only New Yorkers, but the rest of the country as well."

"The Heritage Healthcare Award finalists and winners who pass the Innovation Awards test with these judges will prove that for the 4th year in a row, new and different can drive better health and care, not just for a few, but for thousands of New Yorkers," said Mark Wagar, President of Heritage Medical Systems.

Finalists will be acknowledged in five categories:

HERITAGE INNOVATION IN HEALTHCARE DELIVERY: Recognizing an innovator in the development of new modes of diagnosis, treatment, and care who actively improves the delivery of services and improves quality of healthcare.

HERITAGE RESEARCH INVESTIGATORS IN TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE: Awarded to an individual based on the most significant quantitative results achieved by accelerating the transition of novel and innovative diagnostic tools and treatments to patients.

HERITAGE HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP: Recognizing a leader who has made a significant impact in their healthcare field. This forward thinker has forever changed the way care systems work through new models, processes and pathways.

HERITAGE HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP: Honoring an organization that has fundamentally changed how healthcare is delivered. This organization has created, or championed new ways of thinking and doing, uniting diverse constituencies to work together.

HERITAGE INNOVATORS IN HEALTHCARE: Highlighting cutting edge applications of technology and up-and-comers in the healthcare industry. These breakthrough innovators are making significant contributions in the areas of technology, research, or new approaches to healthcare systems.

Previous winners and judges of the Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards discuss the impact of the program. Watch videos here: https://bit.ly/2XevIMP

Nominations will be accepted until midnight March 22, 2019. The online entry point is available at www.crainsnewyork.com/heritage.

The finalists will be announced in April. The winners will be revealed at a luncheon event in New York City on May 20, 2019 at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.

About Heritage Provider Network
Heritage Provider Network, Inc. (HPN) is one of the most experienced physician organization leaders of accountable care and continuous value based healthcare delivery improvements. Developing and managing coordinated, patient-doctor centric, integrated healthcare systems that offers some of the strongest solutions for the future of health, care and cost in the United States. HPN and its affiliates operate in New York, California, Arizona and Missouri providing high quality, cost effective healthcare with over one million patient members and are dedicated to quality, affordable healthcare, and putting patients' wellness first. (www.heritageprovidernetwork.com)

About Crain's New York Business
For over 30 years, Crain's New York Business has been the award-winning news source for New York's business leaders, telling the story of the New York economy, while serving as a voice and advocate for the city's business community. Reporting through the prism of business, Crain's helps its readers stay on top of the inner workings of New York's economic and political ecosystem, uncover new business opportunities and connect with the broader New York business community.

SOURCE Heritage Provider Network, Inc.