PMID- 16617945
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20061108
LR  - 20191026
IS  - 1553-7250 (Print)
IS  - 1553-7250 (Linking)
VI  - 32
IP  - 3
DP  - 2006 Mar
TI  - Sustained improvement for specialty clinic access.
PG  - 142-51
AB  - BACKGROUND: Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System (VA NJHCS) used the 
      advanced clinic access (ACA) strategies and applied "facility communication 
      model" principles to improve access to care at two medical centers and a 
      community-based outpatient clinic. Implementation of the facility model included 
      the integration of a performance improvement (PI) structure, use of the 
      technology, and staff participation. METHODS: VA NJHCS participated in a Veterans 
      Integrated Service Network (VISN 3) collaborative consisting of five network 
      facilities from June 2001 to January 2002. Specialty clinics were to develop the 
      capacity to schedule a specialty clinic appointment in less than 30 days. ACA 
      strategies were as follows: reduction of appointment types, reduction of demand, 
      development of service agreement with primary care, and standardized 
      documentation using templates. RESULTS: The VA NJHCS average waiting time for a 
      next-available urology clinic appointment decreased 85.9%, versus a 26.2% 
      reduction in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) national average. In June 
      2005, the average days waiting time for a next-available urology clinic 
      appointment at VA NJHCS was 14.2 days, or 24.6 days (63.4%) better than the VHA 
      average of 38.8 days. DISCUSSION: Waiting time reduction for urology clinic 
      appointments at VA NJHCS is similar to results reported elsewhere using the 
      collaborative model and ACA strategies. Yet, the added dimension of a facility 
      model resulted in a waiting time reduction for urology clinics at VA NJHCS that 
      exceeded the VHA national average.
FAU - Hankinson, Mary Therese
AU  - Hankinson MT
AD  - Department of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System, East Orange, USA. 
      mary.hankinson@med.va.gov
FAU - Faraone, Donna
AU  - Faraone D
FAU - Blumenfrucht, Marvin
AU  - Blumenfrucht M
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf
JT  - Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety
JID - 101238023
SB  - IM
MH  - Ambulatory Care Facilities/*organization & administration/standards
MH  - *Efficiency, Organizational
MH  - Health Services Accessibility/*organization & administration
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Medicine
MH  - New Jersey
MH  - Patient Satisfaction
MH  - *Specialization
MH  - Total Quality Management
MH  - United States
MH  - United States Department of Veterans Affairs
MH  - Urology
MH  - Waiting Lists
EDAT- 2006/04/19 09:00
MHDA- 2006/11/10 09:00
CRDT- 2006/04/19 09:00
PHST- 2006/04/19 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2006/11/10 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2006/04/19 09:00 [entrez]
AID - S1553-7250(06)32019-3 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/s1553-7250(06)32019-3 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2006 Mar;32(3):142-51. doi: 
      10.1016/s1553-7250(06)32019-3.