On August 18, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians recognized Cheryl Grossman with its 2018 Friend of Family Medicine Award during the Academy Awards Dinner as part of the Family Medicine Celebration.
The award recognizes an elected official, member of the media, or community individual who has worked on, been involved with, or reported on issues related to family medicine in Ohio.
Former State Representative Cheryl Grossman served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives before leaving the House due to term limits. During her time in the House, she worked diligently to sponsor and support legislation that was beneficial for family medicine patients and the specialty.
Most notably at the end of her last term in the House, Grossman began convening meetings of interested parties and the State Medical Board of Ohio (SMBO) regarding the “one-bite” legislation. The SMBO and legislators had deep misunderstandings about the terminology and processes that only extensive communication could resolve and Grossman pushed all parties to meet, discuss, and clarify the misunderstandings until a reasonable piece of legislation, House Bill (HB) 145, was finally passed.
If not for her leadership and dogged persistence, consensus surrounding one-bite legislation might have never been reached. On January 24, the passage of HB 145 was a major legislative victory for the OAFP and other physician organizations. Thanks to Grossman’s commitment, physicians will soon be able to seek confidential services to improve their health and well-being as a means to ensure patient care safety.
Given the prevalence of physician burnout in today’s world, it has never been more important for physicians to properly care for their mental, emotional, and physical health. After leaving the Ohio Statehouse, Grossman took a position as the director of engagement at LifeCare Alliance.
Seeing the need for better coordination of care between patients, physicians, and community resources, she has scheduled meetings with individual physicians, hospital systems, paramedic units, and the OAFP to educate physicians about the resources available through LifeCare Alliance.
She has facilitated LifeCare Alliances’ partnership with the OAFP by participating in this past year’s Quality Improvement Summit where speakers from LifeCare Alliance presented on how practices can connect with community partners in ways that help their practice improve the outcomes for their patients. Grossman has always been willing to listen to physician concerns and has done a phenomenal job to address issues to make Central Ohio communities as healthy as they can be.
Congratulations, Cheryl Grossman!