DukeMed Alumni News
Summer 2008

Kanof is a State Leader
in Community Health Access

by Bernadette Gillis

When Elizabeth P. Kanof, MD, HS’63-’64, first set up her dermatology practice in Raleigh in 1965, she says she became a member of the North Carolina Medical
Society (NCMS) because it was just what new
physicians automatically did. However, her
involvement with the organization became
anything but automatic once she realized that
through active service she could make a difference in the lives of many across the state.

Currently a member of the NCMS Foundation board of trustees, Kanof and her fellow board members work to improve access to health care for North Carolinians through projects like the Community Practitioner Program. The foundation’s flagship program offers physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants help with repaying education loans in exchange for five years of service in some of North Carolina’s most economically distressed and medically underserved areas.

For medical professionals just out of training, the assistance can provide much-needed relief, particularly for physicians, who, Kanof says, on average face more than $100,000 in debt once they enter practice. Over the past 15 years the Community Practitioner Program has provided grants to 400 physicians, nurse practitioners,
and physician assistants.

But the program isn’t just about helping repay loans. Keeping in line with the foundation’s mission, the program helps patients across North Carolina, most of whom live in rural areas and are uninsured or on Medicaid.

Since the program was created in 1989, patients in 145 communities in 83 counties have received an estimated $226 million in free or reduced care.

“The practitioners are providing access to care patients would not have otherwise,” says Kanof. “Without the program people would have to travel a much greater distance.”

About 55 percent of the patients treated by practitioners in the program have chronic diseases, but by placing an emphasis on preventive medicine, Kanof says the practitioners are clas notes Kanof Is a State Leader in Community Health Access helping patients keep certain illnesses under control, which in turn decreases emergency room visits and health care costs.

“But more important than reducing costs, we’re promoting good health and healthy lifestyles,” she says.

Kanof recalls one patient who was suffering from depression and had very few options for care until a family physician set up practice in his town. “Once he got treatment his depression lifted. His gratitude almost moves you to tears,” Kanof says. “People who had nowhere to turn now have somewhere to go for help.”

The Community Practitioner Program isn’t the only one of its kind in the state, but Kanof says it still is helping to reduce practitioner shortage in the long term. The majority of the program’s practitioners—64 percent—remain in their communities well after their five-year commitment is up. And 85 percent continue to practice in North Carolina, which suggests they are motivated by more than just financial assistance.

“These are practitioners who have a calling to serve this type of population,” Kanof adds. “The warmth and closeness they have with their patients and community means a great deal to them and…the community.”

The NCMS Foundation also offers physicians help with serving communities though its leadership college. Kanof is co-chair of the NCMS Leadership College, which gives physicians tools to help them become community leaders and provide a voice for the state’s physicians and patients.

Modeled after the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s leadership program, the CMS Leadership College is a one-year development course for a select group of NCMS members. The course includes lessons on a range of topics from how to run a board meeting to the basics of administering a nonprofit organization. Each scholar completes a community service project and is mentored by a current NCMS member throughout the year. An advocacy day for the scholars in Raleigh includes meetings with state legislators. Since the Leadership College’s inception in 2002, 66 scholars have gone through the program.

Retired since 2003, Kanof herself is active in legislative issues and says it’s important to prepare the next generation of physician and patient advocates through the Leadership College.

“The North Carolina Medical Society to me is the strongest advocate in the state for physicians and patients,” she says. “To continue doing that we need the input of younger physicians.”

Kanof is married to Ronald H. Levine, MD, former N.C. state health director. They live in Raleigh and have two children and four grandchildren.