Dr Maninder Pabla!

Connect Care KC’s own Dr Pabla has joined the exclusive club of 7 doctors who have received the exclusive 2021 Exemplary Awards from the New Kansas City Medical Society. The coveted Exemplary Leadership Award was awarded to Dr Pabla at an exclusive ceremony recently.

Dr. Pabla is the founder, president and CEO of ConnectCare Hospitalists. She has led her group in maintaining a high level of care at the eight area hospitals they serve, overcoming the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here is an exclusive update from KCMS.

Maninder Pabla, MD, earns praise from colleagues for her leadership of a growing hospitalist practice through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Pabla founded ConnectCare Hospitalists in 2017. Today, ConnectCare provides hospitalist care at nine hospitals. These include seven HCA Midwest hospitals — Research Medical Center, Lee’s Summit Medical Center, Menorah Medical Center, Overland Park Regional Medical Center, Centerpoint Medical Center and Belton Regional Medical Center in the immediate metro area, along with recent addition Lafayette Regional Health Center
in Lexington, Mo.

ConnectCare also serves Western Missouri Medical Center in Warrensburg. ConnectCare employs 10 physicians and 12 mid-level practitioners including physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

Dr. Pabla is the recipient of the 2021 KCMS Exemplary Leadership Award.

As hospitals became flooded with inpatient COVID-19 admissions last year, “ConnectCare was able to maintain an exceptional level of care for patients during their entire stays, regardless of COVID-19 restrictions and limitations on bed space,” said John Paul Armilio, MD, partner in ConnectCare.

“When COVID-19 exploded, Dr. Pabla pulled providers together and showed them how to be nimble and utilize those
tactics to be there for each and every patient,” Dr. Armilio added. He noted how she encouraged them to address patient fears of COVID-19 and become “on-thespot counselors as well as treatment-oriented providers.”

Prior to founding ConnectCare, Dr. Pabla was site medical director for the hospitalist program at Overland Park Regional Medical Center. She also served at Centerpoint Medical Center, Research Medical Center and Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph.

According to Dr. Pabla, when she looks at her career in medicine, she is most proud of the work she’s done in the communities of the underserved.

“I’ve found that my own personal satisfaction comes from the ability to provide adequate medical care to those with the greatest need. Even though the U.S. is one of the richest nations, we have those patients that fall at or below poverty levels,” she said.

Dr. Pabla’s desire to serve is birthed from her experiences and her family’s story.

When she was a little girl in India, she remembers a doctor making a house call to see her mother, who was in pain from a hernia. He administered medicine, and her mother experienced pain relief quickly.

“I became enamored by the idea that I could do the same: relieve someone’s pain,” Dr. Pabla said.

More recently, Dr. Pabla’s mother had a major stroke, which has left her bed-bound and confined to home. The challenge of finding adequate help and resources for her mother has helped Dr. Pabla place herself in her patients’ shoes and be even more motivated to serve.

“Patients need providers that are willing and able to solve problems with their most critical asset, their health. I want to be the provider that gives patients the time and attention needed to work through their questions and clinical conditions, navigate the system, and advocate on their behalf,” she said.