Dr Jeff Buchalter is set to retire and transition into an academic teaching position this July after 30 years in practice.
Renown in the local pain management community due to his decades of service treating the residents of the Panhandle, He has often been called the “Doctors Doctor” as he has treated countless numbers of local physicians and their family members. Dr Buchalter is also renowned for his mentorship, generosity, teachings and entrepreneurship.
As one of the three founding owners of Gulf Coast Pain Institute in 2013, Dr Buchalter’s leadership was instrumental to the success of the practice which led to interest in a private equity firm purchasing the practice in 2018 creating Clearway Pain Solutions.
“Culture outperforms strategy every time; and culture with strategy is unbeatable,”
– Quint Studer
Dr Buchalter was a firm advocate in promoting a positive workplace culture which can be attributed to the dramatic growth of the practice between 2013 to 2018. Dr Buchalter created employee recognition programs such as the Quality Service Award which allowed staff on a quarterly basis to vote on a peer that exemplified integrity and dedication to providing quality service. Dr Buchalter would present these awards in person with a humorous power point and personalized trophy.
Consideration was a fundamental part of the culture that Dr Buchalter and the founding owners of Gulf Coast Pain Institute incorporated. Every December, the owners would fund an annual Holiday party including generous gift giveaways coordinated by Dr Buchalter. Dr Buchalter caring nature shined through every holiday season as he wanted to ensure each of his employees had a personalized gift. Dr Buchalter was also very considerate with his patients. “He was never above hugging his patients, giving them his cell phone number and calling his patients on the weekend to check on them, “recalls Naomi Harriott, former Clinical Manager, “That is what inspired me to do more for the patient. I will take that with me everywhere I go.”
Dr Buchalter was also successful in developing a multi-layer learning and education program in the practice where he taught interventional pain procedures to the practice as a whole and more in-depth education and teaching to providers. Dr Buchalter expanded his teachings on the subject of Pain Management in the Opioid crisis to include the local hospitals during the 2018 implementation of House Bill 21 in effort to bridge the medical community in compliantly treating pain patients. Dr Buchalter’s passion for teaching can be seen with his associate professor status at many Universities including Florida State and the University of Florida College of Medicine.
Dr Buchalter’s legacy to provide ethical and competent interventional pain management care will continue through his academic teaching as an Associate Professor with the UCF College of Medicines Physical Medicine residency training program at West Florida Hospital. residency program. Dr Buchalter will help teach the next generation of physicians the importance of providing the highest quality of patient care in an environment grounded on the principles of compassion, integrity and ethics.
“I think at the end of the day, Dr Buchalter’s legacy will be how well he treated not only his patients but his employees and colleagues,” states Jessica Sorsby, former Administrator, “I speak on behalf of a few dozen people when I say that his mentorship, support and example shaped who I am today and who I want to become tomorrow.”
