Christopher Koller has a multi-decade record of promoting and supporting the value of primary care as essential to improving the quality and cost effectiveness of health care in the U.S. – including an important focus on population health.

More specifically, both in Rhode Island as Health Insurance Commissioner and now as President of the Milbank Memorial Fund, his leadership has been crucial in moving forward the important goal of the need for a greater investment in primary care throughout our health care system (as a component of the total health care spend) and how this investment should be consistently measured – all consistent with the strategic direction of the PCPCC. 

Christopher Koller has also demonstrated a strong commitment to and support of the PCPCC over many years, including significant funding for the Collaborative’s annual evidence report demonstrating the importance and value of the patient-centered medical home.

The PCPCC’s Barbara Starfield Award was established in 2012 to honor the work of Dr. Barbara Starfield, whose distinguished career at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health spanned over five decades, and included seminal research that highlighted the critical role of primary care in driving health system transformation.

Featured in the award-winning PBS documentary “The Providers,” Matt Probst, PA-C, Chris Ruge, FNP, and Leslie Hayes, MD, work tirelessly at El Centro Family Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that offers care to all who walk through the doors, regardless of ability to pay. They serve low-income, predominantly Latino communities, providing patient-focused care for people who are all too often left out of the healthcare system. No matter how many patients they see in a day, how complex their illnesses, or how personally challenging those patients may be, these three providers always interact with patients in a way that recognizes and honors their humanity.

The Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) is a national Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), chartered by the U.S. Treasury, and a non-profit organization that provides exemplary capacity building and capital investment services to primary care providers, particularly those serving the safety net, to address the spectrum of primary care needs and help achieve health equity.

With a mission focused on primary care investment, transformation, and advocacy, PCDC’s impact is shown in the numbers: $1.2 billion leveraged to increase primary care access in low-income communities, 1.8 million square feet transformed into state-of-the-art primary care practices, almost 500 primary care practices supported to achieve PCMH recognition, and over 32.2 million patients impacted nationally since its founding in 1993.

As primary care has evolved, PCDC, and the services it provides, has transformed accordingly. In the last several years, PCDC has expanded service offerings to ensure primary care providers are able to offer high-quality, person-centered, integrated care by introducing and expanding technical assistance and trainings on trauma-informed care, team-based care, SBIRT, and motivational interviewing, in addition to supporting PCMH recognition, revenue cycle management and open access scheduling.