Steven Merahn, MD

Steven Merahn, MD, is a veteran physician-executive and a recognized thought leader in systems-based practice and healthcare interaction design, with a special focus on health disparities in populations and communities with complex health-related needs. He is currently the Medical Director for two NYS-based non-profit organizations that are exclusively dedicated to supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their circles of support: Care Design NY, a care coordination organization health home serving almost 30,000 members, and Partners Health Plan, a CMS-authorized managed care demonstration project for fully integrated IDD care.

A vocal advocate for a “whole-child’ perspective with autism, he is an active member of committees and initiatives of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Council of Autism Service Providers, with regard to policies and programs related to autism care planning, delivery and outcomes, and the author of Care Evolution: Essays on Health Care as a Social Imperative, which advocates for health as a social imperative and for healthcare as a fundamentally human endeavor.

Dr. Merahn has executive leadership experience in organizations providing home and center-based behavior analytic therapy; home-based primary care to complex/fragile and disabled patients; clinical analytics, care management, and patient engagement initiatives for provider networks, health systems, and employer plan sponsors; and at an academic health system, where he led an enterprise quality initiative and was responsible for community and provider relations. He began his career as a Medical Director for the NYC Department of Health, where he led policy and program development in early childhood education, 0-3 early intervention, children with special needs, homeless health, and lead poisoning control.

Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he is a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx and completed his training in pediatrics at Montefiore Medical Center and the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, and is the Father to four children.