Pursuing Perfection - Aims for Improving Health Care
Timely
The
sixth aim in improving health care is Timely
Care. This means reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both
those who receive and those who give care.
Timeliness
is an important characteristic of any service, but can be especially critical
when you are ill. However, long
waits are the norm in most doctors’ offices, in emergency rooms, on the
telephone, in responses to inquiries, in specialty care, on gurneys in hallways
waiting for procedures, and awaiting test results.
In
addition to emotional distress, physical harm may result, for example, from a
delay in diagnosis, or treatment that results in preventable complications.
All of this suggests that care has not been designed with the welfare of
the patient at the center.
Some
sources indicate that only one out of five office visits really require a
face-to-face visit. Currently, the
payment system will only reimburse for the office “visit.”
What if the payment system could be realigned to allow compensation for
other ways to support patients including phone consults, e-mail, group visits,
etc? Some clinics have established
“open access” where the patient can be seen the same day they call.
The pilot sites with this grant project are starting the process of
office redesign to increase their efficiency with the goal of creating open
access in their practices. Practices
that have implemented open access report that they are able to see as many or
more patients as before; that they finish the day on time, with staff less
exhausted. They are providing more
appropriate, effective, patient-centered, timely, and safer care
Our
“Promises to Patients” include:
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We will provide a variety of ways to receive care: office visit, group visit, e-mail and phone.
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We will create a more efficient practice to serve you better and not waste your time (by returning calls, responding to e-mail, having appointments available when you need them and reducing wait times).
Click the links below for information on the six aims.
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