“The Flywheel effect” described by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, describes how early efforts to push a flywheel reap great rewards as the heavy wheel begins to turn faster and faster with each push, ultimately maintaining speed from its own momentum. This has been the course of patient access due to the dedicated efforts of the practice staff, managers, and directors to serve our patients.
In furthering its mission of Making Lives Better™, UT Health Physicians has worked to streamline patient access . This led to the formation of the Access Committee (AC)* under the direction of Dr. Ronald Stewart and more recently, a subcommittee, the Access Taskforce (ATF)**, to carry forward the recommendations of its parent committee and to accelerate operations in regard to patient access. The overarching goals of the Committee and the Taskforce are to improve access so that a minimum of 65% of new patients receive appointments with primary care within seven days and with subspecialists within fourteen days.
Although the "access flywheel" has not reached full speed and momentum, the Access Initiative has made great strides since September. Ten of our seventy clinics are now meeting both access and slot utilization goals and scheduling work queues have declined 25%. And, compared to last year, slot utilization has seen a 6% increase, new patients seen within goal a 22% increase, completed visits a 13% increase, and new patients and consults a 19% increase.
Fast Pass, in which patients are offered earlier appointments via MyChart, and Practice to Practice Scheduling, in which clinics have access to schedule patients into other clinics, have made strides to simplify scheduling.
Soon, the Access Initiative will be rolling out an "Adaptive Reserve Survey" which will aid in getting a snapshot of the clinic environment from the perspective of the practice staff and provider. It is a 26-question, nationally-validated survey which was developed by Carlos Jaen, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair of Family and Community Medicine, and is required by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality in practice studies and takes only a few minutes to complete. Really.
In time, our flywheel will be spinning independently, and all of our patients will get the appointments they want, when they want.
Daniel A. Johnson, MD
Chair, Access Taskforce
*Access Committee (AC): Deborah Conway, MD; Pamela Glasscock; Carlos Jaen, MD, PhD; Nydia Kent; Stephen R. Krauss, MD; Meeghan Lautner; Laura Monroe; Diana Morrison; Patrick Nguyen, MD; Brian Reeves, MD; and Ronald Stewart, MD (Committee Chair).
**Access Task Force (ATF): Timothy Barker; Marc F. Deschaine; Glenn Gross, MD; Pamela Glasscock; Kristen Hansman; Brandon Hartman; Jeanette Hernandez; Daniel A. Johnson, MD; Kenyatta Lee, MD; Casey Peterson; Carlos Rosende, MD, FACS; and Gorden Whiting.
