Description

Advanced Access is an Operations Success Program sponsored by PCDC and led by health care innovators Mark Murray, M.D., and Catherine Tantau, R.N. The program’s goal is to enable patients to see their own primary care doctor when they need to or want to— even if they walk in or call for an appointment that day. Advanced Access breaks down a health center’s daily appointment schedule process and its method for making appointments. It evaluates these components and redesigns the scheduling process for greater efficiency and productivity.

The Synergy Between Advanced Access and Redesign

Access is defined as the daily availability of providers to see their patients when patients want to see them. Appointment schedule access cannot be achieved without efficient office and clinical procedures. Program creators Murray and Tantau provide two sets of strategies to program participants. One set assists centers in clearing space and opening up time slots in the daily schedule. The second set assists centers in redesigning procedures so that patient visits unfold as efficiently as possible, a process that supports access.

Union was different from other facilities participating in Advanced Access
Collaboratives because the center already had completed the Redesign program. Redesign focuses on overhauling procedures for greater efficiency. Union had essentially completed much of the hard work it would have addressed in that portion of the Advanced Access collaborative. During Advanced access, Union focused on the access part of the program, at the same time further refining the efficiency of its office and clinical procedures.