Dr. Shakeeb Chinoy, a pediatrician in Grand Rapids, Mich., earned two top honors from the American Medical Association in 2010 for his work on public policy issues.
In March, Dr. Chinoy of the department of pediatrics at Michigan State University, East Lansing, was awarded the Excellence in Medicine Leadership Award from the AMA Foundation. As the philanthropic arm of the AMA, the foundation honors physicians who demonstrate outstanding leadership in advocacy, community service, and education. The awards were presented in Washington, in association with Pfizer Inc.
Dr. Chinoy was one of only four early-career physicians who won the award. He caught the AMA's attention for his study of the possible association between health care costs and medical liability laws. In a study presented to the Pediatric Academic Society, Dr. Chinoy and his colleagues at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, compared health care costs between states that had enacted caps on noneconomic damages in medical liability suits and those that had not.
The researchers compared hospitalization rates and hospital costs among the states. Dr. Chinoy said that he and his colleagues were surprised when the study revealed that states with tort reform didn't necessarily have lower costs. However, Dr. Chinoy said he thinks that more time may be needed to reveal any impact from newer tort reform laws. He added that he hopes to study this question within the next few years.
Aside from medical liability reform, Dr. Chinoy is interested in preventive care and helping children lead healthier lifestyles, he said.
His other 2010 honor from the AMA was the group's Community Service Award for his role in developing a program to help overweight children get fit by making dietary and lifestyle changes.
Dr. Chinoy said he encourages children to get active by offering them free sports physicals.
As a member of the legislative and government affairs committee of the Michigan chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he also has advocated state laws and regulations that benefit children, from legislation mandating car seat use to that funding the state's immunization registry. Of pediatric patients he said, “Just taking care of them when they're sick is only half the job.”
Surgeon General Regina Benjamin with Dr. Shakeeb Chinoy at an AMA awards presentation: Dr. Chinoy won two AMA awards in 2010 for public policy work.
Source Mary Ellen Schneider/Elsevier Global Medical News