Advancing Primary Care Access: Exploring the Impact of the Virtual Waiting Room on the Quadruple Aim

期刊论文
发表日期：

2024年6月17日

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Mayu Sekiguchi Runge,
Lauren Meade,
Zaid Obaida,
Vincent J. Mariano,
Nicola Sumorok,
Eric Churchill,
Sudeep Aulakh,
Booker Bush,
Linda Canty,
Leilani Kidder,
Brian Bourgeault,
Katherine Newport,
Emanuel Parrilla,
Paul A. Pirraglia

摘要

Background

Community health centers grapple with high no-show rates, posing challenges to patient access and primary care provider (PCP) utilization.

Aim

To address these challenges, we implemented a virtual waiting room (VWR) program in April 2023 to enhance patient access and boost PCP utilization.

Setting

Academic community health center in a small urban city in Massachusetts.

Participants

Community health patients (n = 8706) and PCP (n = 14).

Program Description

The VWR program, initiated in April 2023, involved nurse triage of same-day visit requests for telehealth appropriateness, then placing patients in a standby pool to fill in as a telehealth visit for no-shows or last-minute cancellations in PCP schedules.

Program Evaluation

Post-implementation, clinic utilization rates between July and September improved from 75.2% in 2022 to 81.2% in 2023 (p < 0.01). PCP feedback was universally positive. Patients experienced a mean wait time of 1.9 h, offering a timely and convenient alternative to urgent care or the ER.

Discussion

The VWR is aligned with the quadruple aim of improving patient experience, population health, cost-effectiveness, and PCP satisfaction through improving same-day access and improving PCP schedule utilization. This innovative and reproducible approach in outpatient offices utilizing telehealth holds the potential for enhancing timely access across various medical disciplines.