Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP James L. Holly, M.D. Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP


Letters - David Tuller, Berkeley, Health Affairs, October 4, 2015, Renewed Prescription for an Old Remedy: Exercise
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October 4, 2015

David Tuller
Berkeley University

Mr. Tuller:

I enjoyed your Health Affairs’ contribution in the current issue, entitled, Renewed Prescription for an Old Remedy: Exercise. (http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/9/1440.abstract --- attached is a copy of the article for those who do not have access to Health Affairs

Southeast Texas Medical Associates is a multispecialty practice in Beaumont, Texas (www.jameslhollymd.com).   AHRQ published SETMA’s LESS Initiative on their Innovation Exchange eight years ago:  http://jameslhollymd.com/in-the-news/popup-AHRQ.  More information about the LESS can be found at the following link http://jameslhollymd.com/Your-Life-Your-Health/by-category (the LESS is on the third row center).

The LESS Initiative stands for Lose Weight, Exercise and Stop Smoking.  It is completed on every patient seen every day by SETMA.  Using a laser printer in every examination room, a copy of a personalized LESS Initiative is given to every patient.  It includes the following:

  1. A risk assessment for developing Diabetes
  2. A risk assessment of the patient’s current weight with a BMR, BMI and an explanation of how to increase the BMR and how to decrease the BMI and a personalized determination of how much weight needs to be lost in order to eliminate weight as a health risk.
  3. A personalized exercise prescription with specific personal information.
  4. An assessment of tobacco risk including information how to quit smoking if the patient smokes and how to eliminate the risk of passive smoke, if they don’t. 

The second attachment above is a copy of the Less Initiative Tutorial.  Beginning on page 34, there is a copy of a LESS Initiative completed on a real patient in 2004.  It is important to remember that this is a totally personalized document which has the patient’s personal information and the patient’s name on every page.  It is our experience that with that information on every page, the patient reads it.

We created the LESS Initiative because, while it is easy to talk to one patient about weight, exercise and tobacco, talking to 400-600 patients a day and documenting that process is not as easy.  As Peter Senge states in The Fifth Discipline, “the more complex a problem, the more systemic the solution must be.”  This is our systemic solution to this problem.

Thank you for your article.  It reinforces the value of what we have been doing for over fourteen years.  I hope this lets you know that SEMTA, like so many other healthcare professionals take your words seriously and have for many years. 

Sincerely yours

James (Larry) Holly, M.D.
C.E.O. SETMA
www.jameslhollymd.com

Adjunct Professor
Family & Community Medicine
University of Texas Health Science Center
San Antonio School of Medicine 

Clinical Associate Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
School of Medicine
Texas A&M Health Science Center

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