253: A new way to measure patient access

Stay tuned to the end of the episode for a policy update on the bill containing Medicaid cuts that is making its way through Congress, and the recent MAHA Commission Report. If you were to ask any healthcare leader what the top challenges in our industry are, it’s a fair bet that “improving patient access to care” would be on the list. There have been so many investments made in the industry to improve access—especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. With this level of investment, we should be moving the needle. But the data shows that access is not getting better, and in some cases, it’s getting worse. This week, Advisory Board physician and medical group expert Mahaya Walker joins host Abby Burns to unpack why, and what medical groups can do about it. They break down Advisory Board research findings around how a narrow focus on improving appointment availability may actually be hurting efforts to improve access, and how medical groups can move the needle on access by putting clinicians closer to the center of their access strategies. Links: Provider availability: A new way to measure access for medical groups Top 3 opportunities to save provider time on administrative tasks Ambulatory access: How to make sustainable progress How to reduce in-basket overload by 34%, in 4 steps 4 ways to improve site-of-care transitions for sickle cell patients How VCU built an ‘inescapable’ Adult Sickle Cell Medical Home to improve inpatient to outpatient transitions of care 4 keys to success in the New England Sickle Cell Institute’s outpatient program for adult sickle cell patients A transcript of this episode as well as more information and resources can be found on RadioAdvisory.advisory.com.