Affinity Health Plan Names Sharon Deans, MD, FACOG Chief Medical Officer

New Chief Medical Officer to enhance medical management and pharmacy programs

News provided by

Mar 03, 2015, 10:00 ET

BRONX, N.Y., March 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Affinity Health Plan has promoted Sharon Deans, MD, FACOG, to the position of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Deans will be responsible for all aspects of medical management, including utilization, case, pharmacy and quality management, as well as integrated behavioral health. She will report directly to Affinity's President & Chief Executive Officer, Glenn A. MacFarlane.

Dr. Deans first joined Affinity in November 2014 as Senior Medical Director and Interim Chief Medical Officer, after having served as Medical Director at Health Plus Amerigroup, a division of Anthem. She brings more than 20 years of medical experience to Affinity and has served as the Director of Gynecology at the North Bronx Healthcare Network, as well as a district surgeon for the New York City Police Department. As a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Deans led her own practice for more than 11 years and served as a clinical instructor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

"Given her wealth of knowledge and experience, combined with her passion for the members we serve, we are excited to have Dr. Deans lead one of the most critical functions within our health plan," said Mr. MacFarlane. "A huge champion of patient-centered care, in her capacity as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Deans will work with other areas throughout Affinity to help us further our mission of providing members with the most comprehensive, convenient, affordable and reliable access to quality healthcare."

Dr. Deans is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn and educated in New York City public schools. She received her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine and will obtain a Master's in Public Health from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health in October 2015.

ABOUT AFFINITY HEALTH PLAN
Founded in 1986, Affinity is an independent, not-for-profit organization driven by the mission to help its members, their families and their communities lead rich and rewarding lives. For nearly 30 years, Affinity has built one of the area's largest physician networks, which includes over 27,000 providers and more than 85 of the top hospitals in the Greater New York region. Affinity offers a variety of programs under Medicare, Medicaid, Child Health Plus and Qualified Health Plans on the New York State Health Plan Marketplace to over 300,000 members in the five boroughs of New York City (the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island), Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties. For more information, visit AffinityPlan.org or follow Affinity on Twitter and Facebook.