OAFP: Interview with Dr. Bertka

Interview with Dr. Bertka

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Interview with Dr. Bertka | Video Demonstrating Dr. Bertka's EHR Leadership

Describe what leadership experiences you have had that make you best qualified to serve on the AAFP Board of Directors.
Serving on the Board is a huge commitment of time and energy. What preparations (both professional and personal) have you made to give you the time to serve on the AAFP Board?
Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew family medicine was the specialty for you?
You participate in a wide variety of activities beyond medicine. Which of these activities are most meaningful to you and why?
Your wife, Vicki, is also a family physician. How did the two of you meet?
What do you do to relax and have fun?
Tell us about one of your favorite patients.
The amount of time you have already devoted to Academy activities at both the state and national level is phenomenal – what drives you to seek a position on the AAFP Board?
What do you see as the most pressing issues facing our members and what can AAFP do to address those issues?

Describe what leadership experiences you have had that make you best qualified to serve on the AAFP Board of Directors.

My leadership experience falls into three areas – private practice, medical staff and organized medicine. Nothing is more demanding than leading a small private practice and I did that for 20 years. The experience of negotiating with local and regional insurance companies and other third party payers will be invaluable as an AAFP Board member. Representing a small practice in negotiations with a "take it or leave it" managed care company is challenging to say the least (some would find the word "impossible" a better description). However, by engaging allies (including patients) and being relentless, I have had a number of successes.

When I started in practice, I was one of a handful of family physicians at a tertiary care hospital where I had to fight for many privileges. Working with other family physicians, we reorganized the department and gained the full spectrum of Family Medicine privileges including endoscopy and obstetrical care. Today, that hospital has successful Family Medicine and primary care internal medicine residency programs with approximately 100 primary care physicians on staff. Family physicians, including me, serve in key leadership roles throughout the hospital system.

"Bertka, co-editor of Core Content Review, presents a plaque to
Art Schuman."

Having served on and chaired nearly every Ohio chapter committee, my greatest honor was serving as OAFP's 50th president. Helping to lead OAFP's transformation from primarily a member service association focused on continuing medical education (CME) to an organization that is the voice of public and private sector advocacy for family physicians, is something of which I am most proud. Following a five-year term (one as chair) of the Core Content Review of Family Medicine Executive Board, I assumed the role as Core's co-editor six years ago. During my tenure, Core has expanded from a single paper product to multiple product lines (print, CD-ROM and online). Core's national reputation has grown under my leadership and remains the most important source of non-dues revenue for the Ohio and Connecticut chapters. )

Most recently through my role as chief medical information officer for Mercy Health Partners, I successfully spearheaded a multi-million dollar system wide implementation of an electronic health record (EHR) product (over 1,000 attending physicians and 350 residents were impacted). My current project is to make affordable, lower risk EHR products available to small and medium-sized practices across northwest Ohio.

Equally as important as my experience is my leadership style. My approach (pushing, pulling or just monitoring if things are already moving in the right direction) varies depending upon the group I am leading and what needs accomplished. Family physicians are leaders. So my goal as an AAFP leader is to surround myself with the best people, set the objective and go for it!

My StrengthsFinder Profile© described me as – an achiever, maximizer, focused, disciplined and connected. This profile describes me well.

Serving on the Board is a huge commitment of time and energy. What preparations (both professional and personal) have you made to give you the time to serve on the AAFP Board?

"Bertka and his family attended the military ball for the Air Force Academy, where his oldest son is a cadet."

Contemplating this possibility, I have prepared for the opportunity of Board service. There is no turning back! My older son is beginning his second year at the Air Force Academy and my younger son is a freshman in high school. They, along with my wife, Vicki, understand the importance of what I am doing and support me fully. Two years ago I moved my practice into a larger group – one large enough to support and encourage my passion to serve and one that ensures my patients will be cared for by other family physicians when I am out of town. My new position as chief medical information officer is a perfect connection to Board service – it puts me on the cutting edge of the medical practice transformation outlined in the Future of Family Medicine. Effective Sunday, Sept. 30, I am resigning my position as co-editor of Core Content Review. I pledge to use the 20 hours per week that I typically devote to Core for AAFP Board work. My passion, commitment and time are earmarked to serve AAFP.

Was there a defining moment in your life when you knew family medicine was the specialty for you?

I wish that I could say that there was some miraculous, lightning bolt moment when I knew that Family Medicine was for me. There was not. Family Medicine, through my school's interest group and through the Ohio Academy, did reach out to me giving me many positive role models and a fertile home in which to grow my interest. If I had to point to one person of greatest influence, that person would be my wife, Vicki. She went into college knowing that she wanted to be a family physician and join her family physician in practice. She fulfilled her dream and along the way, her commitment to the specialty inspired me. Ultimately, the interactions with patients and the family physicians who provided care in all dimensions – physical, emotional and spiritual – hooked me.

You participate in a wide variety of activities beyond medicine. Which of these activities are most meaningful to you and why?

Beyond our professional careers, as with most parents, Vicki and I primarily focus on the activities of our boys. In the past year we have made several trips to Colorado Springs, Colo., to visit Brian at the Air Force Academy. Kevin is the athlete so we faithfully cheer him on in his sport de jour.

"The Bertka family is actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America."

Vicki and I are both Boy Scout leaders. It is very rewarding to be part of a program where our boys (Brian, Kevin and a multitude of others) have fun while maturing into responsible young men. Our troop produces an extraordinary number of Eagle Scouts. Their community projects have ranged from building kennels for assistance dogs and constructing a bird watching area for a local park to erecting an entertainment center at a nursing home and hosting a fun night for families of deployed National Guard soldiers.

Since getting married, Vicki and I have been involved in various music ministries at our church. We attempt to live our priorities of God, family, others and self. I recently completed a six-month commitment as a men's renewal leader. This process strived to establish a comfort zone for participants so they are able to get in touch with their feelings and express those feelings to others – even without the spiritual aspect, the self-assessment and communication skills that participants gain have led to many positive life changes.

"Drs. Ken and Vicki Bertka were honored as AAFP Philanthropists of the Year in 2002."

Vicki and I are also very proud of our work with the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. I can think of no greater honor than being recognized as AAFP Foundation Philanthropists of the Year. And interestingly, the media coverage from that award brought new requests and opportunities for service. As a result, I became a founding Board member of Friends of Russian Orphans, a foundation started by two of my patients. We establish relationships with orphanages in the former Soviet Union to address their specific needs. I also serve on the Board of a local foundation that supports research and medical education activities in the Toledo area.

Even in these truly challenging times for family physicians, Vicki and I consider ourselves to be blessed with the important, intangible things that are most important in life. As the saying goes, "give until it feels good;" we share the tangible things until it feels good!

Your wife, Vicki, is also a family physician. How did the two of you meet?

"Drs. Ken and Vicki Bertka met while preparing for medical school."

Vicki and I met briefly in high school when both of us were volunteering at a local hospital. I continued to volunteer in the emergency department (ED) while attending college at the University of Toledo. Vicki left the area to attend Indiana's Ball State University. The summer before our senior year, Vicki contacted the hospital's director of volunteers to see if she could volunteer in the ED during the summer. The director put her in touch with me about sharing weekend evenings. During my four years as an ED volunteer, I had seen many premed students show up for a couple of nights never to be seen again. Vicki started volunteering and she sometimes joined a group of us who would go out after the Saturday night shift. We started dating just as we were applying "early decision" to different medical schools.

By the end of our first year in medical school – Vicki at Medical College of Ohio in Toledo and me at the University of Cincinnati – we became engaged. The weekend after my graduation from medical school, we married. So the girl I thought might not show up more than a couple of nights for ED work has stuck around for almost three decades!

What do you do to relax and have fun?

"Bertka enjoys fishing during his spare time."

In addition to my outdoor scouting activities, I enjoy fishing – unfortunately my favorite fishing partner (my dad) can no longer wade safely in the Maumee River during the annual walleye run. I love to bicycle and try to do that regularly. My basement is full of unfinished projects – my favorite is a 9' by 28' model train layout.

"Bertka relies on the support of his family, including his parents."

I find old-fashioned work with the hands to be mentally relaxing and rewarding. There is no comparison to lying under the "Lude" (Brian's 1998 Honda Prelude) next to my son pulling on a wrench trying to loosen a faulty oxygen sensor.

My favorite TV show is reruns of MASH (you MASH fans will remember that Klinger was from Toledo). Vicki and Kevin seem to be hooked on CSI; sometimes it feels great to flop on the sofa and watch with them.

Tell us about one of your favorite patients.

Ginny is 90 and has been my patient for 21 years. Although never married, Ginny has an active social life and loves ballroom dancing. She is an avid fan of the Detroit Tigers and their local farm team, the Toledo Mud Hens. In fact, she threw out the opening pitch at a Mud Hens game to celebrate her 85th birthday.

"Bertka cares for one of his patients in Toledo, Ohio."

I met Ginny shortly after her mother passed away. Ginny was struggling physically and financially to maintain the old house where she and her mother had lived. After many tearful visits, I finally was able to convince Ginny to "just look" at an assisted living facility. I picked one out that I thought would be suitable for her and made all the arrangements for her visit. At her next appointment, she marveled at all the planned activities for residents – especially the Saturday night ballroom dancing.

Almost 20 years after moving in, she still thanks me for convincing her to "just look." She is presently featured in a television commercial for her facility. She is great with medical students who rotate with me as she is not too modest to tell them where they need to put the stethoscope to hear her murmur well.

The amount of time you have already devoted to Academy activities at both the state and national level is phenomenal – what drives you to seek a position on the AAFP Board?

"Giving makes life with God an adventure in the world, and that is worth living for and giving for." – Richard J. Foster

Like most family physicians, I entered medicine to serve others. Although we primarily function to serve "one patient at a time," family physicians are uniquely qualified to serve communities and the health care system as well.

"Along side his wife and sons, Bertka is sworn in as OAFP president."

The health care system needs re-engineering. Family physicians best understand what needs done; family physicians will be the ones to make it happen. On behalf of my patients and my fellow family physicians, I offer my talents, ideas and passion to meeting the challenges of this task.

What do you see as the most pressing issues facing our members and what can AAFP do to address those issues?

We need meaningful health care reform. Many, if not most, of our members are getting beat up by a system focused on cost cutting and cost shifting. While some question the survival of Family Medicine, I see the potential for a renaissance of Family Medicine through the patient-centered medical home model. In order to make it happen, we need to harness the negative emotions and frustration, turning these into positive energies to move Family Medicine forward. The status quo is dying. The future has yet to blossom.

Today, being a family physician means advocating for the care of patients, communities and the health care system. Advocacy to support family physicians caring for patients and advocacy to re-engineer our dysfunctional health care system must be the all-encompassing priorities for AAFP. Everything else we do pales in comparison.

Our patients look to us for solutions and we must step up to the plate. America needs a health care system that rewards comprehensive affordable care. We must guide our patients, our communities and the health care system in the rediscovery of Family Medicine.

I will advocate for:

A medical home payment framework that pays appropriately for the value of the clinical and administrative services provided by family physicians and the teams we lead
A national immunization program with adequate vaccine distribution and reasonable payment
Financial incentives for appropriate clinical data reporting under physician-established guidelines
Health information technology adoption with financial incentives to support the medical home model
AAFP assistance for chapters involved with state health care reform initiatives and development of model state legislation
Alliances with other professional associations, payer groups and patient advocacy groups who support our core values
Universal coverage of medical home services beginning with children

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