IBM Health Care Executives Receive Highest Honor from American Academy of Family Physician

SAN DIEGO – The American Academy of Family Physicians today bestowed honorary membership on two IBM health care executives for their outstanding service to the AAFP and the medical profession.

In presenting the honorary memberships, the AAFP commended the executives – Paul Grundy, M.D., director of Healthcare Technology and Strategic Initiatives, and Martin Sepulveda, M.D., vice president for Global Well-Being Services and Health Benefits – for their efforts to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system by emphasizing the value of family medicine and primary care as the foundation of a better medical system. The AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. Honorary membership is the AAFP’s highest honor.

Grundy has been instrumental in advancing a new model of primary care known as the patient-centered medical home. In 2006, he helped spearhead the formation of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a coalition of national business leaders, policymakers, insurance companies and physician groups that advocates for establishing primary care as the foundation of the U.S. health care system. Grundy serves as chair of the coalition.

“Comprehensive, continuous, patient-centered, personal and holistic primary care which is based on strong relationships between patients and their physician — this is foundational to good health. Practice and payment reform are the prescriptions for achieving it,” Grundy recently told health care blogger, Ted Eytan, M.D.

He has taken that message nationwide, traveling coast to coast on his own time to meet with business, health care, legislative, news media and patient advocacy groups.

Sepulveda also has dedicated himself to educating large U.S. employers about the benefits of providing employees health coverage that values – and adequately pays for – a strong primary care foundation. As IBM’s point man in establishing wellness programs and health benefit plans, Sepulveda was instrumental in designing the corporation’s successful policies and strategies for keeping IBM employees as healthy as possible. He has worked tirelessly with lawmakers and business and insurance company leaders to share lessons from IBM’s experience and success.

“We have a stake in addressing those root causes of the dysfunction in our health care system, and one of the most neglected and glaring root causes of that dysfunction is the crisis in the decline of primary care,” said Sepulveda. “Primary care is an abandoned, neglected, incredibly important component of what we’re fighting for in the health care marketplace.”

Spulveda and Grundy speak from experience. They point to data showing that, when compared to industry norms, IBM health care premiums are 6 percent lower for family coverage and 15 percent lower for single coverage. Moreover, IBM employees pay 26 percent to 60 percent less in overall health costs than employees at other large companies.

“Working with our esteemed colleagues at the AAFP, we at IBM are proud to note that Paul and Martin have become synonymous with the term ‘health care transformation’ across our industry and with journalists and government leaders around the world,” said Dan Pelino, general manager, IBM Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry. “I applaud the AAFP’s decision to recognize their contributions and accomplishments, which have provided strategies, energy and direction needed to drive some of the most important patient- and primary care-focused health care reform ongoing today.”

In a patient-centered medical home, patients actively participate in their own health and well-being. The patient has an ongoing relationship with a family physician who, as leader of the health team, coordinates all aspects of the patient’s care. As the first contact with the health care system, the patient-centered medical home provides acute, preventive and chronic care, and ensures that the patient receives care from the most appropriate medical subspecialist, allied health care professional or inpatient facility, when needed. In addition, the patient-centered medical home focuses on the needs of the patient by offering services such as same-day appointments, extended office hours, online communication with the health care team and electronic prescribing.

“We are pleased to recognize Drs. Grundy and Sepulveda by granting them honorary membership in the AAFP,” said Jim King, M.D., president of the AAFP. “Their commitment to family medicine and the advancement of the patient-centered medical home model of care demonstrates a desire to positively affect not only the health and well-being of IBM employees, but that of all people in the United States who seek affordable, high-quality health care.”