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Katy Lopez, at right, assists patient Barbara Rodkard register for her appointment at the Osher Clinical Center at 850 Boylston St.
BW/F ambulatory patients are waiting less, filling prescriptions more efficiently and receiving reminder phone calls the day before appointments.
These improvements in the patient experience stem from staff working together and with the Center for Clinical Excellence in several process improvement projects at 24 ambulatory practices across the BW/F distributed campus. In addition, Ambulatorys Patient First campaign, launched last year by the Ambulatory Council, includes several efforts aimed at providing excellent customer service, communication and quality care to every patient or family member.
Our sustained improvement with patient satisfaction truly has been a team effort with all staff working hard in collaboration with the Center for Clinical Excellence, said Sharon Vitti, vice president of Ambulatory and Womens Health Clinical Services. Vitti pointed to a steady increase in patient satisfaction rates as detailed in Press Ganey surveys, as overall scores for BW/F Ambulatory Services have pushed past the 75th percentile and into the top tier of University Health Consortium facilities that use this type of survey.
These many project improvements affect the entire continuum of patient care in the ambulatory care setting, even before the patients arrive for appointments. Reminder phone calls have reduced the patient no-show rates at many practices. Also, front desk staff have streamlined the registration process at the Brigham Orthopedic and Arthritis Center and improved the prescription drug refill process at Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center.
At the Gretchen S. and Edward A. Fish Center for Womens Health at 850 Boylston St., staff worked together to improve the practices billing process, which is driven by the complexities of confirming and reconciling billing encounter forms.
It is very important to have a written standard for our charge entry process and a system that works for the staff involved, said Carolina Herrera, the Dermatology practice coordinator at the Fish Center, who, along with Deborah Scott, MD, participated in theprocess improvementproject. Now,a system is in place to ensurethese forms areprocessed and accounted for within the standard timeframe.
Many of these process improvement efforts, which begin with staff brainstorming sessions at a specific practice or clinic, may be implemented in other settings. This is just the beginning, said Jonathan Coblyn, MD, medical director for Ambulatory Services, which is made up of approximately 150 total practices at more than 20 sites. With these initiatives and our incredibly dedicated staff, were trying to provide the best ambulatory patient experience.