The Actors Fund, a national social services agency dedicated to helping performing artists and entertainment industry employees, plans to open a new clinic in Times Square on March 6 in partnership with Mount Sinai Doctors.
The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts at 729 Seventh Ave. will offer primary care and will add rotating specialists, including dermatologists and ear, nose and throat physicians.
Those specialties are expected to be in high demand as performers often suffer from upper respiratory illnesses, and makeup and costumes can take a toll on the skin, said Dr. Robbins Gottlock, senior medical director of Mount Sinai Doctors Downtown.
article continues below advertisement
“This is a unique opportunity where we felt we could give medical expertise to this group that was already providing social services,” Gottlock said of the partnership, which could also help generate referrals to Mount Sinai’s specialists and attract patients to its seven hospitals.
The Actors Fund raised $2 million for the project from four foundations: the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman New York Foundation for Medical Research, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the SAG-AFTRA Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund and the Booth Ferris Foundation.
The 5,300-square-foot clinic will have nine exam rooms and be capable of treating four times the number of patients the Actors Fund served at its Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic on West 57th Street, said Barbara Davis, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer. The Hirschfeld clinic will close in March.
While Hirschfeld only treated uninsured and underinsured patients, the Friedman Health Center will accept most commercial insurance plans, Medicare and workers’ compensation, while continuing to serve the same number of uninsured and underinsured patients, Davis said.
Initially, the new clinic will not accept Medicaid plans, referring those patients to other clinics. Davis said the nonprofit expects to lose about $400,000 to $500,000 a year on operations of the clinic.
One of the two primary care physicians practicing at the Friedman center will be fellowship-trained in sports medicine, providing expertise on treating physical injuries suffered by performers and stagehands.
Mount Sinai’s physicians will help their patients get back to work as quickly as possible without compromising their health, Gottlock said. For example, its doctors will make quick diagnoses of orthopedic injuries and use an ultrasound machine on-site to guide injections that can alleviate pain or inflammation.
“The mantra ‘The show must go on’ is the reality in their lives,” Gottlock said.
The Actors Fund, a national social services agency dedicated to helping performing artists and entertainment industry employees, plans to open a new clinic in Times Square on March 6 in partnership with Mount Sinai Doctors.
The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts at 729 Seventh Ave. will offer primary care and will add rotating specialists, including dermatologists and ear, nose and throat physicians.
Those specialties are expected to be in high demand as performers often suffer from upper respiratory illnesses, and makeup and costumes can take a toll on the skin, said Dr. Robbins Gottlock, senior medical director of Mount Sinai Doctors Downtown.
“This is a unique opportunity where we felt we could give medical expertise to this group that was already providing social services,” Gottlock said of the partnership, which could also help generate referrals to Mount Sinai’s specialists and attract patients to its seven hospitals.
The Actors Fund raised $2 million for the project from four foundations: the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman New York Foundation for Medical Research, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the SAG-AFTRA Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund and the Booth Ferris Foundation.
The 5,300-square-foot clinic will have nine exam rooms and be capable of treating four times the number of patients the Actors Fund served at its Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic on West 57th Street, said Barbara Davis, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer. The Hirschfeld clinic will close in March.
While Hirschfeld only treated uninsured and underinsured patients, the Friedman Health Center will accept most commercial insurance plans, Medicare and workers’ compensation, while continuing to serve the same number of uninsured and underinsured patients, Davis said.
Initially, the new clinic will not accept Medicaid plans, referring those patients to other clinics. Davis said the nonprofit expects to lose about $400,000 to $500,000 a year on operations of the clinic.
One of the two primary care physicians practicing at the Friedman center will be fellowship-trained in sports medicine, providing expertise on treating physical injuries suffered by performers and stagehands.
Mount Sinai’s physicians will help their patients get back to work as quickly as possible without compromising their health, Gottlock said. For example, its doctors will make quick diagnoses of orthopedic injuries and use an ultrasound machine on-site to guide injections that can alleviate pain or inflammation.
“The mantra ‘The show must go on’ is the reality in their lives,” Gottlock said.
A version of this article appears in the February 13, 2017, print issue of Crain’s New York Business.
Brought to you by Crain’s New York Business, Health Pulse is a subscription-only website focused on the business of health care. The site is updated every day with breaking news, research and unique information. Subscribe today and receive access to the site and the daily emails. Plus, twice a week we release a special report called Extra, featuring data and statistics.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
