CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
In the past, the 437th Medical Group has been challenged to meet its patients' needs for appointments and information.
Patients frequently encountered delays in getting appointments, getting call-backs, prescription refills or test results. The Lean approach is being used to work solutions to these problems.
In December, the group held a week-long Lean event to evaluate ways for streamlining access to care. That event resulted in a number of recommendations, which 21 separate teams are now working. One recommendation was adopted as a just-do-it and came just in time for the Christmas holidays, when group-wide manning was particularly short due to holiday leaves and deployments.
Meeting patients' acute care needs was a major focus. The medical group's supply of available providers did not meet patient demands, resulting in the need to refer patients to off-base urgent care centers ... a process that can be cumbersome both to patients and medical group staff. The administrative processing of these referrals could delay care beyond 24 hours.
To help facilitate that care, the medical group implemented a fast-track referral process to supplement the group's appointment system. When patients called the group for an urgent care appointment and there were no appointments available within a 24-hour period, the appointment clerks offered the patient the option to schedule an appointment at a later date or to go to a pre-designated urgent care facility in the civilian network, without having to speak with a nurse first.
Because of an arrangement developed with that designated urgent care center, if the patient opted to go off-base, the appointment clerk could make a few quick notes on a log and quickly direct the patient to go to that facility. This eliminated significant administrative processing time. The log was later provided to our referral management center, which processed individual referrals authorizations through Humana, our TRICARE network provider.
This just-do-it is but one example the medical group has developed to ease access to care.