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


Letters - Joseph Bujak's response to his visit to SETMA September 13-14, 2010
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The reproduced below is a copy of Dr. Joseph Bujak’s response to his visit with two of his colleagues to SETMA on September 13-14, 2010.  I met Dr. Bujak, January 21, 2010 after reading his paper entitled “Understanding and Influencing Physician Behavior” in the ACHE.  In that paper, he referenced Dr. Peter Senge’s work at MIT.  SETMA has taken Dr. Senge’s book, The Fifth Discipline, as a blueprint for how to organize and design an EHR.  A paper I delivered to HIMSS on that subject is attached, also.  After 8 months of an active correspondence, Dr. Bujak arranged a visit to SETMA.  Of course, Dr. Bujak’s response to SETMA is gratifying, at the same time it is humbling and motivating.  SETMA expects to have a long-term relationship with Dr. Bujak, as we share a common vision and philosophy of healthcare and its future.  I hope you enjoy looking at some of his work as well as reviewing his response to SETMA.

Dr. Bujak has an impress resume.  The following are a few of the highlights of his career (www.joebujak.com):

  • MD: University of Rochester
  • BA Magna Cum Laude: Rutgers University
  • Straight Medical Internship, Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Bronx, New York.
  • Assistant Resident-Medicine, Bronx Municipal Hospital Center, Bronx, New York.
  • Clinical Associate, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
  • Chief Medical Resident, University of Washington Hospital, Seattle, Washington.
  • Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
  • Director of Internal Medicine Residency Training, Sacred Heart Medical Center, Spokane, Washington. Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Washington. Consultant
  • in Microbiology, Deaconess Hospital, Spokane, Washington. Consulting Practice in Infectious Disease, Spokane, Washington.
  • Chief, Medical Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Boise, Idaho. Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Washington.
  • Private Practice of Medicine, McCall, Idaho.
  • Private Practice of Internal Medicine and Infectious diseases, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
  • Consultant for Quality Improvement and Resource Management, Kootenai Medical Center, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Infection Control, Antibiotic Utilization Review, Drug Utilization
  • Review, Clinical Data Management. Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy, Washington State University.
  • Consultant for Clinical Resource management to Qual Med Health Plan, Spokane, Washington
  • Vice President, Medical Affairs, Voluntary Hospitals of American, Inc., VHA Florida, Tampa, Florida.
  • Vice President, Medical Affairs, Voluntary Hospitals of American, Inc., VHA Mountain States, Boulder, Colorado.

Dr. Bujak’s note about his visit to SETMA

Larry, I want to thank you and all the members of SETMA who made the effort to share with us your journey to clinical excellence. We appreciated your hospitality, kindness, and especially your passion for patient care.

I am unaware of any other group that has demonstrated the commitment to creating a medical home and to embracing the EHR as the vehicle for practicing real time best care as well as you at SETMA. Your generosity in sharing your methodology is also quite unusual in my experience. It is clear how proud you all are of both your current accomplishments and your vision of what is possible.

I thank you all for the advice as to how best to begin a similar journey in our medical community in Coeur d’Alene. Starting with a small critical mass of willing users and demonstrating the benefits that justify the energy required to adopt a new way of rendering clinical care is far preferable to trying to impose a system on a large group of diverse clinicians.

I especially appreciated equating the EHR to a physician’s stethoscope. It helped me see how it can be positioned as a 21st century diagnostic and therapeutic tool.

What I found most reassuring is that you can apply this technology without losing the commitment to the art of medicine and without sacrificing the patient relationship.

Thank you for outlining the critical building blocks for success. Leadership and passion, a Cortez approach, the allocation of sufficient resources to train and to operationalize a system that makes it easier to do it the right way than to continue doing it the old way. The ability to present real time to the clinician data that directs best care, publicly reporting results, setting big, hairy, audacious goals, and celebrating your successes. Creating your foundation is consistent with who you all are and is a living expression of your commitment to your patients.

Lastly, Larry, I admire you as a giant of 21st century medicine, a visionary with the energy and commitment to realize the vision. Thank you for your leadership and your generosity, and most of all for your continued passion for caring for and about the patient.

With great admiration and appreciation,

Joe Bujak