UTMB is committed to providing its signature Best Care to every patient, every time. And often, that starts before they even walk through the doors.
Most often, it starts with Access Services.
You might think of Access Services as just the phone line that patients and potential patients call to make appointments but, in reality, it’s so much more. Access Services is a complex 24-hour, 365-day operation that ensures continuity of care and communication with each patient
“Access Services is the tip of the spear when it comes to Best Care,” said Jesse Dodd, director of patient access. “We work to schedule the patient with the most appropriate provider at a time that is most convenient for the patient and ensure that we meet the patient's need. If we cannot meet that need, we have escalation pathways with our ambulatory partners or internally with our 24/7 nurse triage team.
“It isn’t always about appointing but more of giving the patient peace of mind,” he added. “There are times that it’s necessary to escalate to the clinic for a sooner appointment, but also our nurse triage staff can discuss symptoms, which at times can be remedied by home care until the next available appointment. It’s about meeting the patient where the intervention is needed.”
Key components of Access Services include the Access Center itself; the Referral Coordination Center; PBX Operators; Telehealth, Nurse Triage; MyChart; and hospital follow-up and transition-of-care teams, as well as services tailored for maritime needs. Each department plays a critical role in ensuring smooth access to health care services—from scheduling appointments to managing referrals, coordinating telehealth visits, and handling maritime and polar operations health care requirements.
Improvements made
Having timely access to appropriate health care providers is a challenge across many specialties nationwide. UTMB recently has made improvements to modernize and enhance the Access Center for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
To enhance patient management across UTMB’s diverse areas, the team has restructured its approach through a process called superpodding. This involves consolidating tasks such as incoming calls and referral management to improve consistency, accountability and efficiency.
The initiative also focuses on standardized training to optimize Real-Time Eligibility and strengthen partnerships with Revenue Cycle Operations. By centralizing services, the aim is to streamline scheduling to improve key access metrics and communications.
"In 2024, we began realigning Access Services to better support our clinical areas,” Dodd said. “Looking ahead to 2025, we plan to further this alignment, including refining how we handle new versus established patients."
Moreover, enhancements in the Academic Enterprise and ambulatory operations have expanded patient appointment availability and improved functionality within the Epic system. This includes leveraging Epic Fast Pass, which allows patients to move up appointments in case of cancellations, enhancing flexibility and convenience.
Looking ahead, Dodd highlighted plans to improve both the appointment and financial experiences by collaborating more closely with revenue cycle partners. "We are currently retraining staff to enhance their understanding of insurance processes and to facilitate smoother transitions with our revenue cycle partners," he explained.
Additionally, efforts are underway to explore automated patient outreach to expedite referral processing.
Overall, Dodd said, these initiatives showcase UTMB's commitment to enhancing patient care coordination and improving the overall patient experience through strategic improvements and innovations in health care access and service delivery.