About Sarah Chouinard, MD

Sarah Chouinard, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer of Community Care of West Virginia, Inc.

Dr. Chouinard graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree in neurobiology from the University of Vermont and later conducted scientific research at the University of California, San Diego.  Research in biomedical health sciences peaked Dr. Chouinard’s interest in medicine.
 
She is an alpha omega alpha graduate of Marshall University’s School of Medicine in West Virginia and served as Chief Resident in the Department of Family and Community Health.  Dr. Chouinard served as lead physician for the Meaningful Use Vanguard Group for the state’s Regional Extension Center for electronic health record adoption. She also has had the opportunity to participate in an expert panel with Health Resources and Services Administration for health system realignment. She served as an executive member of the West Virginia Health Information Network board of directors, WV’s state HIE agency.
 
Since 2003, in addition to serving as the Medical Director of Community Care of West Virginia (a federally-qualified health center), she has served as the Chief Clinical Advisor for the Community Health Network of West Virginia and as a member of the WV State Innovation Model grant.  In recognition of her efforts, Dr. Chouinard recently served as National Faculty for The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Service’s Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, working on health system transformation and redesign. Dr. Chouinard recently served as Medical Director for the state insurer, Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) where she worked on value-based care initiatives. Dr. Chouinard’s firsthand experience in treating patients through the birth and explosion of the opioid crisis positioned her to serve on national expert panels for addressing the opioid epidemic, a topic she has addressed on the frontlines.
 
Her interests are in rural medicine, healthcare system design, value-based medicine, and using data to drive improvement. She was recognized by the West Virginia Rural Health Association as “Rural Practitioner of the Year” in 2008 and was featured in stories by Governing magazine and CNN.  She is a co-founder of Flipside, a multi-faceted recreational facility promoting physical activity and wellness. For her efforts in promoting free healthy activities for her community, Dr. Chouinard was recognized as “Citizen of the Year” in Fayetteville, WV.