Smita Y. Bakhai
MD, MPH, FACP
Smita Y. Bakhai MD, MPH, FACP
Specialties
Internal Medicine; Internal Medicine - General
Not accepting new patients
Professional Summary:
I am the program director of the Public Health/General Preventive medicine (PH/GPM) residency and Internal Medicine/Preventive Medicine (IM/PM) Combined residency programs. I am board certified in Occupational Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and in Internal Medicine. I graduated from the University of Buffalo IM residency program in 1991.
I am highly engaged in mentoring, teaching and supervising residents and medical students in our Internal Medicine Residency program over the past 17 years. Currently, I provide outpatient primary care at Hertel Elmwood Internal Medicine Center, a certified Patient Centered Medical Home. I take great pleasure in working with diverse patients to optimize health and well-being. I focus on primary and secondary prevention of chronic medical conditions, while providing proactive, preventive, and compassionate care for these complex patients. My practice emphasizes coordinating care across interdisciplinary teams to address social determinants of health. We focus on integrating United States Preventive Services (USPSTF) recommendations in to clinical care.
I am extremely passionate about quality improvement with special emphasis on advancing health equity and population health. I am the chair for NY -American College of Physician (ACP) quality and patient safety committee. I am the recipient of multiple grants and awards for QI projects as a primary investigator. Under my mentorship, our residents have presented various QI posters and received approximately, twenty QI awards at the Graduate Medical Education (GME), state, and national platforms. Our resident -led QI projects have included cancer screening, Hepatitis C screening, and primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases. I am actively engaged in several quality improvement projects to improve patient safety and the quality of care we provide. Our recent Quality improvement projects address warfarin -high risk medication management , health care disparity in colorectal cancer screening and mitigating maternal health risks by improving Covid-19 vaccination rates.
I am the primary investigator for the Human Resources Services Administration (HRSA) grant for our Preventive Medicine Residency program, comprised of 2.8 million dollars over 5 years, expanding IM/PM Combined Residency program and bringing a new general Preventive Medicine residency with a special focus on maternal health. As the program director, I facilitate various rotations, lead didactic sessions, and supervise residents. I am leading the development of curriculum for new clinical rotations including population health, lifestyle medicine, addiction medicine, and patient safety and quality. My goal is to produce great leaders to provide excellence in clinical care, address social injustice, and gain skills to improve population health.
Specialties:
Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine - General
Patients Treated:
Adults, Seniors/Elderly
Physician Gender:
Female
Appointments:
UBMD Internal Medicine at Hertel Elmwood
Hertel Elmwood Internal Medicine
900- Hertel Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14216
Phone: 716-871-1571
Fax: 716-
Insurance Accepted:
Hertel Elmwood Internal Medicine
900- Hertel Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14216
Phone: 716-871-1571
Fax: 716-
Not accepting new patients
Insurance Accepted:
- Blue Cross & Blue Shield of WNY Inc
- CIGNA HealthCare
- Empire
- Fidelis
- GHI
- Independent Health Association (HMO)
- MVP Healthcare
- Magnacare
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- NYS Medicaid
- Todays Options
- United Healthcare
- Univera Health Care (HMO)
- WellCare
Board Certifications:
- Board Certification, American Board of Internal Medicine
- Board Certification, American Board of Preventive Medicine-Occupational
- Certification, Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG)
- Certification, Executive Development in Health Care Management
- Certification, National Committee for Quality Assurance Diabetes Recognition Program
- Certification, Quality Improvement at University of Toronto
Education and Training:
- Certificate, Longitudinal Knowledge Assessment (LKA), American Board of Internal Medicine ( ABIM) (2026)
- , UB School of Managment (2015)
- , State University of New York at Buffalo (2014)
- Certificate, National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) (2010)
- Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians (2010)
- Residency, Occupational Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University (1998)
- MPH, Public Health, major in Occupational Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (1996)
- Residency, Internal Medicine, University at Buffalo (1991)
- Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, B. J. Medical College, Gujarat University (1986)
Awards and Honors:
- “Patient centered approach to promote health equity for colorectal cancer screening in limited resource communities- Quality Improvement project, selected as first place winner, NYACP annual scientific meeting, poster presentation by 3rd year IM/PM resident (2024)
- “Under prescribing of cardioprotective novel antidiabetic drugs in marginalized patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus”, selected as 2nd place winner, clinical research category, poster presentation by 2nd year Internal Medicine resident (2022)
- “Interprofessional Collaboration for Safe Opioid Prescribing for Chronic Pain: QI project”, selected for the Evan Calkins, MD Community-Based Research Fellowship award, third year IM/PM resident received $1500 award, UB (2022)
- “ Strategies to address Healthcare Disparity in Colorectal Cancer Screening (CRC)” Quality improvement project, selected as first place winner at NY-American College of Physician(NYACP meeting, poster presentation by 3rd year IM/PM resident, May 27, 2022, Albany, NY (2022)
- Scientific Excellence Award, Semi-finalist 3rd year Im-PM resident ,at National ACPM conference (2022)
- “Multi-faceted Strategies to address the barriers to Health Care Disparity in Colorectal Cancer Screening (CRC)”: Quality Improvement Project, win-ner of social justice and equity award, 3rd year Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine Resident, received $2,000 award (2021)
- Improving Warfarin safety during clinic merger amid Covid-19 , Pandemic, Quality improvement project, NY American College of Physi-cian (ACP) 2nd place winner, in the Resident/Fellow and Medical Student Quality Patient Safety and Advocacy Category, virtual poster presentation : by 4th year IM/PM Resident (2021)
- “Increasing Rate of Attendance to First Outpatient Mental Health Ap-pointment Post Hospital Discharge after Suicidal Ideation”: Quality Improvement Project ,winner of the Evan Calkins, MD Community-Based Research Fellowship award, Second year residents in Department of Psychiatry, received $2,200 award (2021)
- Improving breast cancer screening rates in primary care safety-net clinic: Quality improvement project 1st place winner, Graduate Medical Education Award, Oral poster presentation by 3rd year resident at 2nd Annual “virtual” Celebration of Scholarship, University at Buffalo (UB) (2020)
- 2019 Gage Award (2019)
- NCQA Diabetes Recognition Program Certificate (2010)
Research Profile:
This UBMD physician is also a member of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, teaching the next generation of doctors and researching to advance care in WNY and beyond. Learn more about this physician's research and teaching activities, as well as view credentials, publications, professional involvement and more below.