Dr. Eric Loy Inducted into the Grassroots Hall of Fame
4/20/2017
National Association of Community Health Centers
Contact: Amy Simmons Farber 202/309-0338 or 301/347-0400
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Health Center Leader Inducted into the Grassroots Hall of Fame
Bethesda, Md. –Dr. Eric Loy, MD, Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of Cumberland Family Medical Center, Inc., (CFMC) has been inducted into the Grassroots Hall of Fame for the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). Grassroots Hall of Fame members have made lasting contributions to insuring the creation, survival and strength of Community Health Centers and the Health Center Movement through their dedicated and tireless efforts over many years. Dr. Loy was presented the Hall of Fame Award at the 2017 NACHC Policy and Issues Forum in Washington, D.C., an event attended by 3,000 health center leaders from around the country.
“Dr. Loy has been a passionate advocate on behalf of health centers and the movement would not be what it is today without his dedication, skilled leadership and tireless energy,” said Tom Van Coverden, President and CEO of NACHC. “He has been on Capitol Hill many times carrying the health center message, and rallying public support and funding in his state. We’re deeply appreciative of his commitment, hard work and leadership in advocacy.”
Dr. Loy received his M.D. from the University of Louisville and began a private practice in 2003 in Burkesville, Kentucky, a small town on the Cumberland River. After realizing the challenges rural populations face in accessing affordable health care, Dr. Loy led a grassroots effort to apply for and achieve FQHC status for two primary care private practice clinics in 2007. Thanks to his leadership, CFMC is now Kentucky’s largest community health center network with 62 locations including 36 school-based health centers, a mobile medical unit, and a newly awarded New Access Point. Dr. Loy was also recently recognized by the Southeast Economic Development Corporation with the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award for “demonstration of exceptional achievements within the Eastern and Southern Kentucky geographic region.” Dr. Loy’s exceptional advocacy work has been at both the state and federal level, whether it is testifying before Congressional committees on Capitol Hill or helping to shape state policies to improve access to care as a member of the Kentucky Primary Care Association’s Board of Directors.
Health centers started more than 50 as a daring experiment in President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty campaign, which led to the opening of the nation’s first health centers in Boston and the Mississippi Delta. Today, that pilot project has evolved into the largest and most successful primary healthcare system in the United States. Health centers serve 25 million Americans (1 in 13 people), including 300,000 veterans, who live in nearly 10,000 rural and urban communities. Health centers also save the U.S. healthcare system more than $24 billion every year in reduced overall costs from preventable hospitalizations and avoidable emergency room visits. To learn more about the mission and accomplishments of heatlh centers please visit www.nachc.org.
The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance and expand access to quality, community-responsive health care for America’s medically underserved and uninsured. NACHC represents the nation’s network of over 1,400 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) which serve 25 million people through nearly 10,000 sites located in all of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.