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David Buchholz, MD, is assuming the role of Senior Founding Medical Director for Primary Care. Working with ColumbiaDoctors and NewYork-Presbyterian, he will lead an expanded primary care strategy that will provide greater access for patients to primary care services across the New York metropolitan area, with the goal of improving clinical care for patients and their families.

Since 2015 he has served as Medical Director, Provider and Customer Engagement, at Premera Blue Cross, near Seattle. He previously served as Executive Medical Director of UCSF Primary Care in San Francisco.

At UCSF and Premera Blue Cross, Buchholz led a range of initiatives that improved quality and patient experience. He also collaborated with employers on strategies to optimize the health of their employees and their families.

“Patients not only want convenient access to primary care services, but they also want – and should expect – excellent quality of care and a great patient experience,” said Buchholz. “My goal is to build high-functioning primary care practices that deliver on those expectations.”

In his own clinical practice at UCSF, Buchholz consistently earned patient satisfaction scores in the 99th percentile for physicians nationally, as measured by Press Ganey patient satisfaction surveys.

“As we grow our primary care network, one of our key goals is to recruit outstanding primary physicians,” said George A. “Jack” Cioffi, MD, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and President of ColumbiaDoctors and Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Our strategy is to build exceptional primary care practices where patients want to come for their care, and where the best physicians want to come to practice medicine.”

“NewYork-Presbyterian and ColumbiaDoctors are excited to be partnering on this initiative. One of the things that impressed the search committee the most about Dr. Buchholz is his proven ability to work collaboratively with a broad range of stakeholders – patients, physicians, payers, employers and others – and build services that are responsive to their needs,” said Laureen Hill, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “He has a great track record for doing that, and we are delighted that he’s going to be joining us.”

A board-certified pediatrician, Buchholz attended medical school at the University of Illinois - Chicago and completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle.

NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive, integrated academic healthcare delivery systems, whose organizations are dedicated to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care and service to patients in the New York metropolitan area, nationally, and throughout the globe. In collaboration with two renowned medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently recognized as a leader in medical education, groundbreaking research and innovative, patient-centered clinical care. NewYork-Presbyterian has four major divisions: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is ranked #1 in the New York metropolitan area by U.S. News and World Report and repeatedly named to the Honor Roll of “America’s Best Hospitals.” NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Hospital Network comprises hospitals and other facilities in the New York metropolitan region. NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services, which connects medical experts with patients in their communities. NewYork-Presbyterian Community and Population Health, encompassing ambulatory care network sites and community healthcare initiatives, including NewYork Quality Care, the Accountable Care Organization jointly established by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia. For more information, visit www.nyp.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Columbia University Irving Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Irving Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cuimc.columbia.edu.

ColumbiaDoctors

ColumbiaDoctors makes medical history, and changes patients’ lives, every day. We are among the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast, with more than 1,800 Columbia University Irving Medical Center physicians, surgeons, dentists, and nurses. Our Columbia clinicians and researchers exemplify the excellence for which the University is known around the world. They are renowned for their expertise in specialty and subspecialty care, with more than 230 areas in all. Our clinicians harness the latest in scientific research to deliver the newest, most promising treatments directly to our patients. Many of ColumbiaDoctors clinicians rank among the most highly regarded health care professionals in their fields. Our faculty brings the highest standards of compassionate, collaborative care to our patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, No. 1 in New York City, its affiliates in the region, and in our offices located in Midtown Manhattan, Washington Heights, the Hudson Valley, and across the tri-state area. For more information, please visit www.columbiadoctors.org.