Pano Yeracaris, MD, MPH

Pano Yeracaris, MD, MPH has over 34 years of medical practice and leadership experience and is the chief clinical strategist of the Care Transformation Collaborative-Rhode Island (formerly CSI-RI), the statewide private/public multi-payer patient-centered medical home initiative focused on primary care and health system transformation. Current additional engagements include: Medical Director for the CPC Plus National Learning Team and subject matter expert for the Connecticut SIM Primary Care Modernization project.

Prior to this current work, Dr. Yeracaris served for nearly 9 years as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Network Health, a Massachusetts-based Managed Medicaid Organization. There he oversaw the entire Clinical Affairs Division and was the architect for its nationally-recognized clinical programs including integrated care management and field-based social care management and clinical community outreach teams. Network Health was ranked the top Medicaid Plan nationally in 2014. Dr. Yeracaris also did primary care at East Cambridge Health Center which implemented an integrated behavioral health program.

Before joining Network Health, Dr. Yeracaris served as Chief Medical Officer of Health Services Partnership in Dorchester, MA for over 6 years, and served as Medical Director for its 2-member community health centers. Dr. Yeracaris also worked for 13 years in primary care and as a physician leader at Health Care Plan in Buffalo, NY, a highly respected staff model HMO. During that time, he served for 7 years as the medical liaison for the chemical dependency program. Care delivery transformation was a strategic focus for the staff model organization. The population and individual health focus helped set the groundwork for principles guiding development of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and PCMH.

Other professional engagements include Senior Clinical and Program Advisor (2016) for the Rhode Island Quality Institute Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI) CMMI grant  focused primarily on specialist practice transformation and successful performance under alternative payment models; Senior Clinical Consultant to Northeastern University for a Robert Woods Johnson grant on “Population Health Strategies among Health Plans and Large Provider Organizations; Exploring the Business Case” (2014-2016); and consultant for South County Health on clinical integration (2014). Since 2001, Dr. Yeracaris has been a member of the Board of Directors at the New England College of Optometry, where he currently serves as Board Chair.

Dr. Yeracaris earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, earned his medical degree at the State University of New York in Buffalo, and completed his residency in family medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is board-certified in family medicine and is Associate Clinical Professor in Family Medicine at Brown Alpert School of Medicine. He has also been Assistant Clinical Professor at the State University of New York School of Medicine in Buffalo and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School.