Access to healthcare remains one of the most pressing challenges facing communities today — not just in rural or underserved regions, but across suburban and urban geographies as well. As patient needs evolve and expectations rise, leading health systems across the country are shifting from reactive models of care to proactive, community-oriented strategies that meet patients where they are.
“Expanding access starts by paying attention to where the need for care intersects with the realities people face every day, like the mom trying to get care between shifts, or the retiree managing a chronic condition from home,” said David Banks, president and CEO for AdventHealth in Altamonte Springs, Fla. “That’s what guides our approach at AdventHealth, which is focused on making it easier for people to get quality care when they need it.”
AdventHealth created a primary health division with the goal of transitioning care closer to home, which includes same-day appointments, evening hours and more experience for primary, virtual and urgent care settings.
Cleveland-based University Hospitals has a similar initiative; they launched “Find My Provider,” a director and decision-tree to help patients find the best person for their care, taking preferences like the geographic location and preference for the physician’s gender.
“These changes led to real impact–95% of more than 30,000 patients said they successfully scheduled their appointments and were satisfied with the process,” said Paul Hinchey, MD, COO of University Hospitals. “Additionally, 75% said they would recommend University Hospitals, and patient sentiment improved by 6 percentage points year over year.”
University Hospitals streamlined their check-in, wayfinding and more through the phone, enabling real-time communication between caregivers and patients, increasing their visibility and curating a more targeted experience.
David Dunkle, MD, president and CEO of Franklin, Ind.-based Johnson Memorial Health, is improving access to care by standardizing scheduling templates for providers and allowing patients to book their appointments online. Patients are taking advantage of the technology and love it.
“These efforts have resulted in approximately 25% more encounters with providers occurring on the same day that they were scheduled, a significant decrease in the amount of time it takes for someone to establish themselves as a ‘new’ patient, and improved patient satisfaction scores,” said Dr. Dunkle.
Wendy Horton, PharmD, CEO of UVA Health University Medical Center in Charlottesville, Va., is taking a comprehensive approach to identifying and solving access challenges by rethinking bed geography, establishing discharge lounges, creating surgical short stay units, standardizing discharge bundles and more.
“We leverage technology and data analytics to increase capacity and reduce bottlenecks through predictive scheduling and strategic care team deployment,” said Dr. Horton. “Our targeted capital investments include expanding clinical and surgical spaces, and building a new hospital bed tower to meet demand and reduce wait times.”
UVA is focused on becoming more efficient and improving patient throughput to extend capacity and access to care. Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD, president of the University of Texas Medical Branch and CEO of UTMB Health System in Galveston, Texas, called expanding access to care an “institutional priority” and is leveraging technology to meet their mission. One of the most successful projects has been the nurse triage system, which connects patients with clinicians to schedule appointments quickly.
“In addition to hiring more providers, we have refined the functionality of Fast Pass in our Epic appointment system to make better use of the automated wait list for patients,” said Dr. Reiser. “We are increasingly using AI for scheduling and have opened a care coordination and referral center for patients with multiple medical issues and easy access to customized care.”
But the brick-and-mortar facilities aren’t the only assets contributing to expansion efforts; health systems are growing telehealth, digital platforms and community partnerships to design strong hospital at home programs. Jennifer Mendrzycki, JD, president and CEO of TMC Health in Tucson, Ariz., told Becker’s her organization launched a virtual primary care program with real-time appointments for medication refills and certain non-acute conditions. The program has had a surprising impact on the staff as well as patients because participating providers have more flexibility.
“TMCOne has built a strong reputation as an innovative primary care practice that prioritizes the well-being of its providers alongside operational success, an invaluable asset for recruitment, retention and growth,” said Ms. Mendrzcki.
Cleveland Clinic also built a robust Hospital Care at Home Program to solve access issues and still deliver innovative and high-quality care. The program has delivered acute-level care to 3,000 patients outside of the hospital walls and the health system has created clinical access teams, which pair physicians with advanced practice providers for more timely care.
“Thanks to these and other efforts, the primary care wait times at our Florida location have been significantly reduced,” said Conor Delaney, MD, PhD, president and CEO of the Florida region at Cleveland Clinic. “Alongside these programs, we’re also deepening our commitment to the neighborhoods we serve.”
Cleveland Clinic partnered with community organizations to address access to care, behavioral health, food insecurity and other critical social determinants, ideally leading to fewer visits from people with preventable diseases. The community-based approach to whole-person care is quickly becoming the new mindset for health systems, large and small.
“At Cleveland Clinic, expanding access to care isn’t a milestone – it’s an ongoing mission,” said Dr. Delaney. “We’ll continue to move forward with purpose, progress and the communities that count on us.”
