Respected MKMG Medical Director Calls it a Career

Abe Levy decided on his career path when he was six years old after he recovered from tuberculosis.

“I saw how I felt from the physicians taking care of me and that made an impression on me that that is what I wanted to do when I grew up,” Levy said.

Levy, 70, concludes a 38-year career in medicine on Monday as he retires from the Mount Kisco Medical Group, where he served as an administrator since 1996, including the last 13 years as its medical director. He started his career in 1974 practicing internal medicine mainly at MKMG and Northern Westchester Hospital.

About 16 years ago, Levy, a Pound Ridge resident, was working at Northern Westchester on weekends when Dr. Scott Hayworth, MKMG president and CEO, approached him to perform quality assurance work on weekdays. It didn’t take long for Levy to accept.

“It wasn’t so much a decision as something to fill up some time during the week,” he said.

In his role as medical director, he recruited new physicians, performed quality assurance, dealt with patients’ concerns and supervised some aspects of laboratory work.

One of Levy’s lasting accomplishments at the medical group was to computerize medical records. In the 1980s, he recalled listening to a talk from the chief of medicine at the University of Vermont medical school who stressed the importance of organized medical records, being able to make sense of a patient’s history spanning a decade or more. That prompted Levy to explore how to integrate technology to help make patient care more effective.

“I think it leads to better organized, better coordinated care,” he said. “I think it leads to safer care. I think if you eliminate duplication and redundancy there can be some cost savings, but I don’t see the electronic medical record as a cost saver. I see it as higher quality and safer.”

During his tenure at MKMG, an administrator’s responsibilities have changed rather significantly, Levy said.

“Everything’s becoming more challenging. There’s more governmental involvement, more regulation,” he said. “Patient expectations are strong and high. So physicians are trying to keep their feet on the ground in a changing world.

Since passage of the Affordable Health Care Act in 2010, MKMG has become what Levy calls an “accountable care organization.”

“It means that we’re trying to improve the quality of care that patients get by improving outpatient services in an attempt to save money in the broad sense by lowering the rate of hospitalization,” Levy said. “If you can do more preventive services…(then) you will prevent the serious illnesses that can occur if those aren’t done and prevent the hospitalizations and the chemotherapy.”

Levy ended his career as a practicing internist two years ago. He is retiring because earlier this year he reached MKMG’s mandatory retirement age of 70.

“I think it does make sense,” Levy said of the policy. “While some physicians are quite good at age 70 and even at the peak of their careers, some are not,” Levy said. “And the ones who are not, aren’t always able to see for themselves that they are not able to function at a proper level and there is no test and no examination to determine that.”

Levy said what has been most rewarding during his career has been when patients and their families are happy with their medical care. However, as he phased himself out of practicing medicine on a day-in, day-out basis, he missed the interaction with patients.

“I miss the one-on-one contact with patients, the feeling you get when a patient is helped by prevention or helped by treating an illness. There’s nothing that equals that,” Levy said. “But dealing with a population (as an administrator) has its own gratification and its own satisfaction.”

Levy has been active in Pound Ridge, having served for 12 years on the town’s Water Control Board, which he described as similar to a wetlands commission. He was also a Pound Ridge Land Conservancy board member for about six years. Both those roles reflected his longtime interest in the environment.

Levy plans to remain local, although he and his wife, Patricia, will spend some time at their second home in Florida. The couple has a son, Aaron, a curator for an arts organization in Philadelphia, and a daughter, Deborah, a Boston-based doctor.

On Dec. 16, a party was held in Levy’s honor at the Mount Kisco Public Library attended by about 75 local residents. It was organized by Mayor Michael Cindrich and his wife, Linda. Cindrich praised Levy for his work and his contribution to the community.

“Dr. Abe Levy has devoted his life to health and wellness issues,” Cindrich said. “He was instrumental in bringing world class medical care to the greater Mount Kisco area. Mount Kisco is proud to be the home of the MKMG.”

Levy said he is going to miss his work.

“I’m going to miss being a part of the exciting changes that are going on and seeing how they work out for physicians and for our patients,” he said.