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James L. Holly, M.D. |
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Source: Healthcare Informatics Blog
Posted by: John DeGaspari
I recently had an opportunity to interview James
L. Holly, M.D., CEO and one of the founding partners of Southeast
Medical Associates LLP, (SETMA), a multi-specialty clinic located in
Beaumont, Texas that is an early adopter of electronic health
records. His vision, and the accomplishments of his organization on
EHR, hit home for me the huge potential of EHR to improve patient
care.
SETMA purchased its EHR system from NextGen Healthcare
Information Systems in 1998, just three years after the organization
was founded. Holly says he wanted more than a glorified patient
accounting system. His group immediately set about customizing the
EHR system. It developed in-house a series of disease management
tools, or templates, that allow each physician to document the
condition and course of treatment of the patient. “That’s when it
all changed, because we were able to do things we could not
previously do,” Holly says.
Over the years, SETMA has made
great strides in developing its system of patient care, and in the
process it has changed the way its providers interact with their
patients. It has developed into a sophisticated example of the
Patient Care Medical Home that takes a team approach to patient
care. A key component of that is its Care Coordinator team that
follows up with patients who require more than two interventions.
The team makes sure the patient has his medications, understands the
physician’s instructions, and helps arrange follow-up
visits.
About a year and a half ago, SETMA added quality
audits into the mix, acquiring Cognos business intelligence software
from IBM Corp. That has enabled the group to perform extensive
datamining. This includes trending of outcomes, analyzing patient
populations to ensure that all patients meet their health goals, and
analyzing provider performance through statistical measures. In
September 2009 Holly took the next step, announcing that SETMA would
begin public reporting of provider performance. Holly says that
performance reporting will have a transformative effect at
SETMA,which will improve and change the dynamic at the
organization.
To be sure, SETMA's commitment to EHR and
quality metrics has been a long journey that has been a learning
experience for the provider group. Holly notes that SETMA began its
journey without a roadmap, but the group has documented real
improvements in patient care quality. The important thing, he says,
is to get started. His advice to other provider groups: “Once you
get started, you can improve and do remarkable things, and do them
faster and cheaper than we did
them.”
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