Quality & Safety Initiatives Expand At The Family Health Centers At NYU Langone

New Directors Lead Charge to Advance Care in Brooklyn

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Mar 03, 2020, 13:36 ET

NEW YORK, March 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone recently welcomed two new leaders to advance the quality of care received by the more than 102,000 patients served each year.

George Shahin, MD, MBA, has been appointed senior medical director of quality and safety—a new role created to further enhance the high-quality care already provided across the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone network. This new initiative builds on NYU Langone Health's award-winning, nationally acclaimed quality and safety program throughout its entire system.

Shahin, a lifelong member of the Brooklyn community, is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology, and has practiced at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone since 2011. In recent years, he has helped increase participation in free community screenings for hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as colon cancer.

In his new role, Shahin is leading initiatives to improve patient outcomes and oversee the medical directors and clinical providers at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone.

Shahin is currently working on the implementation of a notification tool within NYU Langone's electronic health record system that will identify patients who have a medical history of heavy tobacco use, so they can be referred to NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center for lung cancer screening. Initial data suggest the tool will identify an estimated 500 patients, and the screening is available to patients regardless of their ability to pay or health insurance status.

"Cigarette smoking and tobacco use is a common topic of conversation between a provider and a patient, but sometimes this topic is not at the forefront of an appointment," says Shahin. "That is why it is important to create a best practice alert process—so that all patients who have a history of smoking will have access to the latest diagnostics and treatment."

New Nursing Leader Supports Quality Team

The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone also recently recruited Monefa Anderson as director of nursing. Anderson oversees the administrative and clinical nursing operations for primary care, specialty care, and behavioral health services, ensuring consistent quality patient care is provided across the continuum of outpatient locations. Anderson and Shahin are working closely together to prepare the nursing staff—who are at the forefront of patient interactions—for initiatives like the lung cancer screening program.

Previously, Anderson was the senior assistant vice president, nursing, and chief of staff for the Office of the System Chief Nurse Executive at NYC Health + Hospitals.

Both Shahin and Anderson report to Isaac D. Dapkins, MD, chief medical officer for the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone.

"The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone serves the highest Medicaid-concentrated population in the United States; a diverse, and in many ways, a vulnerable community," says Dapkins. "Dr. Shahin and Ms. Anderson will lead efforts to help us better serve the unique needs of our patients, with quality and safety being the driving aim in all that we do."

The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone is one of the nation's largest Federally Qualified Health Center networks, providing high-quality primary and preventive outpatient care to adults and children. The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone accepts most major insurance plans, including Medicaid and Medicare, and provides financial assistance to patients who cannot pay for their medical care through a sliding scale fee discount program.

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SOURCE NYU Langone Health