Many cancer programs continue to face challenges in maintaining access to care given ongoing capacity and resource constraints. This issue will be exacerbated in the future, as projections indicate an additional 11 million patients will be seeking cancer services by 2040 due to the “Silver Tsunami.”
By focusing on core operational imperatives, cancer programs can deliver advanced care and expand access while maintaining a focus on the patient experience. As cancer programs look to the next decade, administrative and clinical leaders will need to implement novel approaches to increase patient access, improve operational efficiency, and ensure equity for all patients.
In a four-part blog series, we’ll take a deeper look into each of the pillars foundational to creating a differentiated patient experience, a core element of the cancer program of the future. Here in part one, we explore how provider organizations can optimize performance to increase patient access.
Problem
Along with expecting high-quality cancer care, patients are increasingly seeking rapid access to appropriate oncology specialists after diagnosis and the ability to initiate treatment quickly. For many patients, a key factor in determining where to seek care is the ease in which they can schedule an appointment and communicate with their care team. As such, programs without well-designed patient access processes are at a competitive disadvantage.
Solution
To improve new-patient access to oncology services, organizations should focus on the following high-yield initiatives:
- Refine referral intake processes, considering the overall demand for new-patient appointments.
- Implement a virtual intake model that includes APP-led intake appointments and/or rapid telehealth visits to offer patients immediate access to a care provider while waiting for the next available appointment.
- Enhance program capacity management to meet demand.
- Optimize provider work standards to free up capacity and enable operational efficiency.
High-performing programs approach these issues using standardized processes that allow all providers to work at the top of their licenses while reducing variation in workload across individual providers. Once providers’ available time has been optimized, capacity management and clinical coordination efforts can be more effectively implemented. The best practices listed below can help increase capacity without adding resources, which will in turn reduce wait times for new patients.
Best Practice One: Improve referral networks and establish new entry points for patients to access care when and where they need it.
Best Practice Two: Implement capacity management initiatives to ensure personnel, space, and equipment are being utilized to the extent possible.
Best Practice Three: Standardize provider work expectations and scheduling processes to enable programs to meet service demand.
Along with optimizing referral coordination, capacity management, and provider work standards, ensuring that patients utilize the right care setting will improve overall patient access. Oncology urgent care centers and home infusion programs are two methods for utilizing existing program infrastructure in different ways.
Oncology Urgent Care Centers: Providing on-demand access to the right care setting for patients is key to both reducing healthcare costs and meeting patient experience expectations. Oncology urgent care centers help increase patient access and improve operational efficiency by:
- Addressing adverse effects of treatment and symptoms before they become significant issues.
- Reducing unnecessary hospital admissions.
- Avoiding exposure to the general population for immunocompromised patients.
- Providing a venue for unscheduled visits while reducing disruptions to the flow of outpatient clinics.
Home Infusion Programs: Although chemotherapy infusions have traditionally been delivered in a clinical setting, certain therapies can be provided to patients at home. This approach has been demonstrated to improve patient satisfaction and can create financial savings for both patients and health systems. Home infusion programs can further support cancer center initiatives by:
- Improving patient access, particularly for patients who may have challenges related to comorbidities, cancer-related symptoms, or transportation.
- Addressing clinic capacity issues by providing treatment in an alternative setting.
As the demand for high-quality, patient-centric cancer care continues to increase over the next decade, cancer programs must focus on strengthening the four pillars of a differentiated patient experience to continue meeting the needs of their diverse communities, maintain competitive success, and realize programmatic volume growth. In the next installment of the blog series, we will examine the importance of incorporating strong patient navigation services across the cancer program.
For more information, download our whitepaper, Pioneering a Cancer Program for the Future.
Edited by: Emily Johnson
Published December 11, 2023
