New PCHIT Blog Co-Author: Joe Kimura, MD, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates

Please welcome our second physician co-Author on this blog, Joe Kimura, MD, from Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates (HVMA), and Atrius Health, based in Boston, MA. Joe is an internal medicine physician and wears an administrative hat as the Medical Director for Quality Measurement.

We visited Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates last month, and consistent with our goal, wanted to invite a physician leader to continue the conversation here with us. Joe has graciously agreed. Like many of us physicians, Joe is new to the blogging arena, but interested in sharing the breakthroughs and challenges of innovating in patient-centered care.

In talking about building skill in this medium with Joe, I mentioned that he’s a great communicator, and further that he probably didn’t take a patient history perfectly the first time. His response was that he still doesn’t do this perfectly – he said, “I always end up with follow up questions,” which he asks the patient after reviewing their symptoms and the latest medical information about a particular condition. I do the same, which makes me think I need to question what my definition of “perfect” is in this case. Is it more perfect to have all of the answers up front, or to listen carefully and learn more each time? I think that’s a great analogy for health care improvement and using new communication tools to involve our communities in our drive to make our systems better every day.

Please welcome Joe as he continues to practice the art of communication along with Mark, myself, and Josh.

Ted Eytan, MD