Dr. Jim Walton: pursuing equity in healthcare access

Serving people in need has always been a core principle for Dr. Jim Walton. It's one reason he chose medicine as his vocation, believing in the power of the personal physician relationship to improve the well-being of the community, one patient at a time.

Just last year, Walton, 57, took the helm of Genesis Physicians Group, a 1,400-member independent physician association in Dallas. But for the previous 12 years, he served as medical director of the Dallas County Medical Society's Project Access of Dallas, working to improve healthcare access for the working poor, who still face hurdles in gaining access to quality healthcare. He led the volunteer service program, which included more than 2,000 physician volunteers across all specialties—as well as hospitals and other provider organizations—serving more than 3,000 uninsured in the county. Changes in Medicaid funding forced the program to fold in 2012.

At the same time, Walton worked for the Baylor Health Care System, including stints as vice president for community health improvement and vice president of the Office of Health Equity. All along, after his day jobs, he has volunteered his clinical skills by treating low-income and uninsured patients at the Healing Hands Ministries Medical & Dental Clinic in Dallas.

“I want to help create more equity in the healthcare system,” Walton said.

At Genesis Physicians, he is guiding the group away from volume-based fee-for-service medicine to a value-based, pay-for-performance system. The changes should benefit patients with the delivery of better-coordinated, higher-quality care, but the transition hasn't been easy. “The steps to move to a value-based practice, the time and money, aren't necessarily aligned with the steps it takes to be successful,” Walton said. “So you're in this awkward position, like adolescents growing into their bodies.”

To help move into the value-based environment, Walton launched the Genesis Accountable Physician Network in 2013. It's the first physician-based accountable care organization in North Texas and a participant in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. And while the growing pains may hurt at times, Walton believes his physician colleagues will embrace the ACO.

“I fundamentally believe people become doctors with a passion or calling to serve their communities or patient panels, but they want to be respected and compensated fairly,” Walton said. “As we move to value-based practice, it plays to a physician's original motivation for being a healthcare professional of serving patients in need and mitigating risks.”

Mike Mitka is a freelance writer based in River Forest, Ill. Reach him at [email protected].