Access and Flow Why a System Approach Works

Taking a system approach to patient access (getting in and out) and flow (getting through) maximizes the ability to care for a community of patients throughout the care continuum. Delays in care of chronic or acute conditions lead to worsening health outcomes for a community. The ability to get the right patient, at the right place, at the right time and with the right resources requires a coordinated review of resources, alignment of mindsets and systematic process to enable these processes with some amount of automation. Numerous technical and adaptive barriers can exist to implementing standardized and systemized execution of access and flow. Attendees will review a case study that features a consolidation of system resources resulting in 4,000 additional external transfers into the system in 2023, more than 600 admissions transferred from the quaternary care campus emergency room to community hospitals in 2024 year to date, zero hours of capacity-related hospital diversion in greater than 12 months, reduced ER boarding hours by 25% year over year, increased internal referrals from 68% to 72%, improved referral conversion rate by 74% year over year, and increased patient self-scheduling by 100% year over year.

Learning Objectives:

• Discover how to plan and activate centralized capacity management, a transfer center and a specialty-based ambulatory referral process with a multi-specialty contact center.
• Describe the organizational change management needed to achieve a systemwide approach to prioritize access and flow.

Speakers:

Michelle Vassallo, RN, NE-BC
VP of Operations, Clinical Enterprise
Inova Health System

Marque Macon, FACHE
Vice President/Administrator, Ambulatory Operations & Provider Service
Inova Health System

Continuing Education Credit

ACHE Qualifying Education Credit

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Interprofessional Continuing Education Credit

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This activity was planned by and for the healthcare team, and learners will receive a maximum of 1 Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE) credit for learning and change. For further information about Joint Accreditation credits and certificates, please click here.

Physician Continuing Medical Education

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Continuing Pharmacy Education

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Continuing Social Work Education

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Physician Associate/Physician Assistant Continuing Education

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