Last night, in our nation’s capital, we gathered with leaders from the major medical associations for the annual meeting and awards dinner for the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC). IBM’s own Paul H. Grundy, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, and Global Director of Healthcare Transformation was recognized as a recipient of the prestigious PCPCC’s Barbara Starfield Award, bestowed on individuals for their extraordinary contributions to health system transformation. Dr. Doug Henley, CEO of the American Academy of Family Physicians presented the award. He thanked Paul for his loud, energetic voice and for bringing hope. He described how Paul – with great tenacity – pulled together the Payers, the Employers, the Physicians from all the different stakeholders and told them “We have to bring these groups together and we have to do this”. He summed up his comments on Paul with this quote: “A man is not great because he does great things, he does great things because he is great”.
Established in 2012, the PCPCC Barbara Starfield Award commemorates the work of Dr. Starfield. Recognized world-wide as an expert in primary care she was an advocate of the critical role that primary care plays in driving health system transformation. During her distinguished career at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, her defining work with patterns of morbidity formed the basis of the ACG® System. Biennially, the award recognizes the best use of the ACG® System.
What is ACG?
The Johns Hopkins Adjusted Clinical Groups® (ACG®) System measures the morbidity burden of patient populations based on multiple factors such as disease patterns, age and gender. It also relies on the diagnostic and/or pharmaceutical code information found in insurance claims or other electronic medical records. The improved accuracy allows to identify patients at high risk, forecast healthcare utilization and set equitable payment rates.
Based on his lifetime work related to the ACG® system, Paul Grundy is this year’s Starfield Award laureate.
About Dr. Paul Grundy
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In Paul’s words, back in 2005, IBM began to question the very foundation of healthcare and reached the conclusion that when compared to other industrialized countries, U.S. healthcare failed to deliver comprehensive primary care. On this basis, Dr. Grundy founded the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) in 2006 to facilitate improvements in patient-physician relations and create a more effective and efficient model of healthcare delivery. The PCPCC has created an open forum where healthcare stakeholders freely communicate and work together to improve the future of the American medical system. Known as the “godfather” of the patient-centered medical home, Paul has developed model language for inclusion in health reform proposals to include the PCMH concept.
Furthermore, as IBM’s Chief Medical Officer and Director of Healthcare Transformation, part of Dr. Grundy’s work is directed towards developing and executing strategies that support IBM’s transformation initiatives in the healthcare industry.
