What does "Patient Access" really mean in my Program?

What does “Patient Access” really mean in my Program? 

Patient access has become one of the hottest topics across the country in the majority of CV Programs. It seems so simple to “fix” however it remains a challenge. I have experienced that the definition of access has many meanings based on the individual’s interpretation in relation to their needs, schedule, organization, etc. Access has over time become synonymous with “value” care.

Patients often say good access/value care occurs when:

1. I have easy access to schedule an appointment with my provider.
2. Providers take time to listen to me.
3. The office staff is friendly, supportive, responsive, etc.
4. My provider has a great bedside manner and advocates for my care.
5. Parking is easy!

The list could go on and on and with impacts to healthcare changes by the minute. Ultimately from my experience, the definitions vary by patients, families, leadership, physicians and staff.  So how do we manage and improve access? How do we keep the patient at the center? How do we meet our goals and metrics? How do providers not feel they are giving up control of their schedules? I wish I had a crystal ball that would tell us all the answers. No magic here just some thoughts from being a patient, having elderly parents to care for, and working directly with patients, providers, leadership and programs.

The drive to create a top-notch patient experience is driven by patient consumerism. All programs strive to provide high-quality care and excellent customer service to their patients. It’s a major undertaking to accomplish with staff turnover, variable scheduling diverse workflows, customized physician schedule templates, financial barriers, and numerous other daily activities. The graphic below illustrates what we consider to be the attributes to a high performing CV program. It includes several steps with increasing effort to ultimately be transformative in accomplishing a truly patient-centric organization. Each step is imperative and directly impacts the goal. This is a good place to start in peeling back the layers of the onion.

At the MedAxiom spring conference we hosted a heavily attended pre-conference session on access. We will host an additional in the weed’s session on access at our fall conference this October. I hope you can join us and continue to share ideas, solutions and challenges. No matter how you define it, patient access is sure to be one of the most important issues.