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


Letters - The Joy of Medicine - The Imperative of Celebration:: The History of SETMA’s Preparation for and Journey to ICD-10
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October 6, 2015

This week is the annual Wirt E. Bellue, Sr. & William Richmond Holly, Sr. Patient-Centered Medical Home Distinguished Visiting Professorship endowed by Dr. and Mrs. Holly in honor of their fathers.  The Visiting Professor this year is Dr. David Loxterkamp, October 7-9, 2015.   At noon on Thursday, Dr. Loxterkamp, Dr. Carlos Jaen and Dr. James L. Holly will conduct a round table discussion with Medical Students entitled, “The Joy of Family Medicine.”

Few things in human experience bring joy as much as celebration.  In May, 1999, Southeast Texas Medical Associates experienced four seminal events.  These are reviewed at the following link:  http://jameslhollymd.com/Your-Life-Your-Health/pdfs/may-1999-four-seminal-events-in-setmas-history.pdf.  The fourth event is described as follows:

“The fourth seminal event was that we determined to adopt a celebratory attitude toward our progress in EMR.  In May, 1999, my cofounding partner was lamenting that we were not crawling yet with our use of the EMR.  I agreed and asked him, ‘When your son first turned over in bed, did you lament that he could not walk, or did you celebrate this first milestone of muscular coordination of turning over in bed?’  He smiled and I said, ‘We may not be crawling yet, but we have begun.  If in a year, we are doing only what we are currently doing, I will join your lamentation, but today I am celebrating that we have begun.’  SETMA’s celebratory spirit has allowed us to focus on the future through many lamentable circumstances and has allowed us to press forward through many disappointments.  Focusing on our successes kept us moving forward and the cumulative effect was always success.”

As we discuss the “joy of Family Medicine,” we will examine:

  1. Healthcare transformation through personal passion - being driven by your dreams and vision,
  2. Celebration of successes even in the face of pressures and/or in the face of failures,
  3. Learning and practicing that “you make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give - learning the joy of giving,
  4. Overcoming frustration and fatigue by giving more than is expected, more than is demanded and more than you must - once you exceed expectations, demands and “musts,” you find self-sustaining energy
  5. Finding joy in changing things for the better, when you stop meeting mandates and regulations, you will find joy.

Why Write About Meeting ICD-10 After you have done it? - The History of SETMA’s Preparation for and Journey to ICD-10

On October 1, 2015, as 12:05 AM, SETMA successfully deployed ICD-10.  All 47 healthcare providers used the system successfully immediately.  All nurses and staff did the same.  All interfaces and clearing houses worked well and charges were successfully sent to health insurance companies on the same day.  The task is done; so, let’s move on to the next, but it is not done.  A complex task, which has been called the biggest thing to happen to American healthcare, and it has been a “non-event” at SETMA.  All is moving smoothly; in fact, SETMA’s providers really like ICD-10 and see it as a great improvement in documentation. 

Why then do we stop and look at what brought us to this event successfully?  One of the reasons is that that it is what brings “joy to healthcare colleagues.”  Stopping, if only for a moment to remember and to celebrate creates focus and energy for the future.  So it is that we published the following piece on October 5, 2015:  http://jameslhollymd.com/In-The-News/pdfs/history-of-setmas-preparation-for-icd-10.pdf.

As we review the history, we review SETMA’s Your Life Your Health article published on October 1, 2015:  http://jameslhollymd.com/Your-Life-Your-Health/pdfs/icd-10-its-here-what-does-it-mean-and-why-does-it-matter.pdf.  This is our explanation to our patients and community about the reason for and benefit of ICD-10.  It is as the French would say, “the raison d’être,” - the “reason for being” of ICD-10.  We review the Beaumont Enterprise article to which SETMA contributed, entitled, “Will Codes Affect Care”:  http://jameslhollymd.com/In-The-News/pdfs/icd10-health-will-codes-affect-care-beaumont-enterprisse-october-1-2015.pdf.

And, in reviewing these three documents, we celebrate and in that celebration we find the passion, the energy, the resilience to face the future.  We remember, April 12, 2007, when we were told, “Today is a watershed; in six months SETMA will no longer exist.”  We remember that six months and six years came and went and SETMA prospered and grew.  We remember the reasons for this were our mission and our vision and the blessing of Providence.  We are humbled and we are encouraged.

And, in all of this we have joy.

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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