By Hassan Green and Donna Collins – Buffalo Business First
Jun 9, 2023
Dr. Paul Shields is focused on physician engagement and alignment, as well as quality and clinical care management.
Thanks to 23 years' experience in health care, he contributes his time and energies to Great Lakes Integrated Network, Kaleida Health, ECMC, Elderwood, and Hospice Buffalo, to name a few. At GLIN, he helps manage operations for 60 independent practices with 914 providers.
Dr. Shields has put his background to work to improve post-acute care in the region.
In the last three years alone, that includes helping to grow GLIN’s footprint in long-term care from 3% to over 50% market share, with readmissions decreasing in its skilled nursing facilities from 30% to 9%.
Paul Shields
CEO/CMO, Great Lakes Integrated Network, IPA
Years in health care: 22
Years with your company: 1
Proudest accomplishment in the last year: Being selected to lead Great Lakes Integrated Network as we transform the healthcare delivery model in Western New York.
Entered health care profession because: My pediatrician, Dr. James Greenbaum, was my inspiration to enter medicine. He embodied everything I thought I wanted to be. In college, I was mentored by Dr. David Lesseski in Erie, Pennsylvania, and that drove me toward family medicine as my specialty choice.
College: B.S., Gannon University; D.O., Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Spouse: Nicole
Children: Joshua, Sarah, Nico, Gino
Grandchildren: Asher
Born in: Kittanning, Pennsylvania
Lives in: Orchard Park
When I’m not working, I’m: Golfing, landscaping, automobiles
Favorite nonprofits: Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo, Kaleida Health Foundation, ECMC Foundation
My to-do list: Spend a month traveling through Italy, go skydiving, grow old with Nicole
Wishful superpower: Power to fly
Self-description: Servant