Ariadne Labs Executive Director Dr. Asaf Bitton has been selected as the 2019 Allan Sandler Visiting Scholar in General Internal Medicine by Massachusetts General Hospital. The honor was established 19 years ago to commemorate Dr. Sandler, who practiced internal medicine at the MGH for more than 40 years.
As the Sandler Scholar from Oct. 23 to 25, 2019, Bitton will give a formal presentation during Medical Grand Rounds and meet with adult medicine practices and research groups on issues of team-based primary care, process improvement, and patient-centered care.
“I’m really pleased to be this year’s Sandler Scholar,” Bitton said. “Health systems and providers in Boston are leading some of the most important primary care innovations in the United States and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to learn more about the excellent work being done at the Mass General Hospital and its affiliated practices.”
Sandler was a beloved MGH physician who passed away in 2001 and the Sandler visiting scholar program was made possible by generous gifts from his family, patients, colleagues and friends. Previous Sandler Scholars included Drs. Chris Cassel, John Wasson, Don Berwick, Gary Kaplan, Roseanne Leipzig, Tejal Gandhi, Deborah Prothrow-Stith, and Mark Smith.
“Dr. Bitton was selected as our 2019 Sandler Scholar because of his extensive experience with the implementation of new models of primary care delivery, including payment models that support improved value and clinical outcomes,” said Susan Edgman-Levitan, executive director of the John D. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Mass. General Hospital. “We are excited to share our work and look forward to Dr. Bitton’s perspective on our efforts to improve primary care at Mass General.”
Bitton has led efforts globally and nationally to transform primary health care delivery systems and create high quality, integrated care models. Formerly the director of the Ariadne Labs Primary Health Care Program, Bitton is a leader of the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative, launched in 2015 at the United Nations. He currently continues to serve as a senior advisor to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation around primary care payment and care delivery policy. He practices primary care in Jamaica Plain at the BWH South Huntington practice, and serves on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.