IX.a.2. Accessibility Accessibility is also key to retaining patients. Location convenience, ability to make appointments quickly and see a specialist in a timely manner are important to making health systems accessible. Many organizations are also implementing extended and weekend hours in their popular clinics and facilities to better serve their patient population (Fabner, 2014). When Cleveland Clinic learned, for example, that their long patient wait times were hurting their image, they instituted a day appointment service”. This service which was accessible “same through a toll free number, allowed patients to be seen the same day if they called in before noon or the next day if they called after noon. For more complex conditions that needed to be seen by a specialist, triage nurses and care navigators worked with the patient to get the care they needed as soon as possible (Rowe, 2013). Identifying lengthy patient wait times for specific service lines or specialists is crucial in improving accessibility to care and deterring patients from seeking the services of another system’s provider. Caldwell Butler and Associates, a consultant team that specializes in Six Sigma and Lean processes in healthcare, state that these processes can also be used to identify issues that contribute to patient leakage. The consulting group states that, deeper “A examination of waste reveals that market share and revenue can be greatly enhanced by eliminating waste such as missed appointments, waiting times, delays in procedures, and other events that suboptimize care delivery” (CBA, 2014). In order to use Six Sigma processes to eliminate waste that contributes to patient leakage, CBA recommends starting with a target analysis that identifies all the players in the game- providers, employees, and patients. This step collects data about each of these including service line details, accessibility of the providers, ease of making appointments, marketing, and so on. Once this step is completed, CBA recommends a
IX.a.2. Accessibility Accessibility is also key to retaining patients. Location convenience, ability to make appointments quickly and see a specialist in a timely manner are important to making health systems accessible. Many organizations are also implementing extended and weekend hours in their popular clinics and facilities to better serve their patient population (Fabner, 2014). When Cleveland Clinic learned, for example, that their long patient wait times were hurting their image, they instituted a “same day appointment service”. This service which was accessible through a toll free number, allowed patients to be seen the same day if they called in before noon or the next day if they called after noon. For more complex conditions that needed to be seen by a specialist, triage nurses and care navigators worked with the patient to get the care they needed as soon as possible (Rowe, 2013). Identifying lengthy patient wait times for specific service lines or specialists is crucial in improving accessibility to care and deterring patients from seeking the services of another system’s provider. Caldwell Butler and Associates, a consultant team that specializes in Six Sigma and Lean processes in healthcare, state that these processes can also be used to identify issues that contribute to patient leakage. The consulting group states that, “A deeper examination of waste reveals that market share and revenue can be greatly enhanced by eliminating waste such as missed appointments, waiting times, delays in procedures, and other events that suboptimize care delivery” (CBA, 2014). In order to use Six Sigma processes to eliminate waste that contributes to patient leakage, CBA recommends starting with a target analysis that identifies all the players in the game- providers, employees, and patients. This step collects data about each of these including service line details, accessibility of the providers, ease of making appointments, marketing, and so on. Once this step is completed, CBA recommends a