May 22, 2013
The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) has honored George Pink, PhD, with its Outstanding Researcher Award, presented May 9 during the NRHA’s 36th annual Rural Health Conference in Louisville, Ky.
 
Dr. George Pink

Dr. George Pink

Pink, Humana Distinguished Professor of health policy and management at The University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, is also senior research fellow at UNC’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and senior research fellow at the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center.

 
He annually disseminates the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Financial Indicators Report, an industry standard distributed to 1,341 CAHs, which includes empirical assessment of relevant benchmarks and peer groupings for CAHs. The report has significant impact upon practice and policy in rural hospital finance.
 
He has authored several textbooks in health-care finance, written more than 60 peer-reviewed articles and co-authored numerous issue briefs and working papers designed to make his research accessible to policy makers.
 
Pink volunteers as a member of the board and finance committee chair at Piedmont Health Services, a large federally qualified health center (FQHC) that provides primary health care to residents of five largely rural counties in North Carolina. Prior to coming to UNC in 2002, he served on the faculty at the University of Toronto and as a sought-after health management consultant.
 
“George is a true collaborator, says Ira Moscovice, PhD, Mayo Professor and health policy and management division head at the University of Minnesota and founding director of the UM Rural Health Research Center. “He has outstanding quantitative skills and a penchant for meticulous and policy-relevant work. His research has served as a foundation for improving the financial capabilities of small rural hospitals and is widely recognized by his peers in academia and practitioners in the field.”
 
The NRHA is a nonprofit organization working to improve the health and well-being of rural Americans and provide leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education and research. Its more than 22,000 members, comprised of diverse individuals and organizations, share the common bond of an interest in raising awareness about the 62 million Americans who live in rural areas and lack access to affordable health care.
 
The organization’s annual conference is the largest gathering of rural health professionals in the U.S., typically attracting more than 900 health professionals and students.
 
Pink is the second UNC recipient of the award, which was first presented by the NRHA in 1999. Rebecca Slifkin, PhD, Gillings School alumna and former director of the UNC Sheps Center’s N.C. Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center, won the award in 2005.
 
Pink thanked the NRHA for recognizing the contributions of the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center. “This is a team award, and it’s an honor to receive it,” he said.
 

 
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Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu.
 

 

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