Health systems today need to find bold new ways to meet patient needs while fostering provider wellbeing to survive. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with two distinguished leaders in access and operations: Angela Lamb, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, Medical Director, Faculty Practice Associates’ Access Center, System Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Strategy for Dermatology, Mount Sinai Medical Center; and Jennifer Perkins, MD, MBA, Associate Chair of Ambulatory Care, Executive Medical Director of Ambulatory, Co-director of Endocrine Neoplasia Program, UCSF Health. Together, they explore innovative access strategies, approaches to meeting evolving patient expectations, and how to create sustainable systems that balance provider efficiency and compassionate care.

How can the ambulatory enterprise meet patients’ needs when demand continues to grow? This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with three seasoned ambulatory leaders: Mike Condrin, Interim Chief Administrator at UC Davis Medical Center and Interim COO of UC Davis Health Hospital Division; Jennifer Hayden, Associate Vice President of Patient Access and Ambulatory Facilities at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist; and Alpa Prashar, Director of Operational Performance Improvement for Ambulatory Care Services at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Together, they explore how improvements in patient access drive operational changes in the ambulatory enterprise, sharing strategies for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness amidst increasing demands.

Failure isn’t the end—it’s a new beginning, and an opportunity to improve. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Dr. Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School professor and author of ‘The Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well,’ and Dr. Victor Hassid, MD, CPE, FACS, Executive Medical Director of Access Strategic Operations and Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Together, our panel of experts explore how embracing failure and fostering psychological safety can help health systems address the challenges of patient access. This episode offers strategies for cultivating a culture that values learning over knowing, helping organizations pivot from setbacks to meaningful improvement.

How can we assure high quality service in the face of ever-shifting standards?  Contact centers have evolved rapidly since the days of landlines, and today’s access leaders face a new host of challenges and considerations. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with some of the nation’s top innovators in the world of contact center management, including guests Tracy Cocco, MSBA, Senior Director, Patient Line Innovation, UCHealth, Suzanne Ronner, Vice President, Patient Access Center, Digital Engagement, Hackensack Meridian Health, Chris Munoz, Senior Patient Access Center Manager, Patient Access Center, University of Florida Jacksonville Physicians, and special guest Scott Kendrick, SVP, Strategy and Alliances, Callminer. Together, they highlight the importance of caller experience, performance improvement, and the transformative role of artificial intelligence in monitoring and enhancing quality.

Patients navigating the healthcare system are faced with challenging and often daunting circumstances – and it’s our responsibility as health system leaders to ease that burden with empathy and simplicity. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with three leaders dedicated to improving the patient journey: Alan Dubovsky, MBA, Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer at Cedars-Sinai; Rick Evans, M.Th., Senior Vice President of Patient Services & Chief Experience Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital; and Alpa Vyas, MHA, Vice President, Chief Patient Experience & Operational Performance Officer at Stanford Health Care. Together, they discuss the challenges patients face when accessing care, innovations to improve the process, and how to inspire confidence in the access journey by fostering a seamless and compassionate experience.

The most valuable asset for any ambulatory enterprise is our providers’ precious time. This week, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Adrin Mammen, MBA, Vice President & Chief of Ambulatory Patient Access at Mount Sinai Medical Center, to discuss optimizing that invaluable resource with the intricacies of capacity management. Adrin has long been a champion of reducing non-attendance by tackling the challenges inherent to ambulatory access and she works tirelessly to implement innovative strategies to improve patient well-being.

Equity is the cornerstone of healthcare. Nonetheless, institutional inequalities continue to challenge equitable access to care. It is our responsibility as health system leaders to dismantle the barriers within and help to level the playing field for the benefit of patients. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Nick Mah, Interim Senior Director of Access & Innovation at UW Medicine; Ryzell McKinney, EdD, MACD, CCCM, Director of Access Technology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Pravina Mason, MHA, Executive Director of Patient Access Contact Center at Cedars-Sinai. Together, the team explores the intersection of access and equity in healthcare, sharing strategies to address systemic inequalities and create more equitable opportunities in ambulatory care.

Managing clinic capacity is a complex problem without a ready-made solution. This month, founder & executive director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with esteemed guests Melanie Cassamas, MHA, Enterprise Director at Massachusetts General Brigham; Paul Rohrer, MHSA, Director of Access at University of Colorado Medicine, and Rebecca Carey, MBA, PMP, Vice President, Ambulatory Access at Stanford Children’s Health, to explore strategies to balance fixed clinician resources with rising patient demand in the ambulatory enterprise.

With the help of the fearless Best Practices Committee, the Patient Access Collaborative developed the Best Practices in Access document. In this episode, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Tina Tolomeo, DNP, MBA, APRN, FNP (BC), Senior Director and Nurse Practitioner at Yale Medicine; Holly Koehler, MBA, Vice President of Patient Access Services at Northwell Health; Kevin Pawl, MS, FACMPE, Senior Director of Patient Access at Boston Children’s Hospital; and Michelle Winfield-Hanrahan, RN, BSN, MHA, MSN, Chief Clinical Access Officer and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Access at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences. Together, the committee details the collaborative process behind the Best Practices document and explains the roadmap for health systems to improve access, efficiency, and patient satisfaction.

Equity and sustainability lie at the heart of every access improvement at Seattle Children’s Hospital. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Tia Rooney, MBA, Director of Surgical Service Lines at Seattle Children’s, to discuss the health system’s innovative strategies to reduce missed appointments, improve equity in access, and scale sustainable solutions within complex ambulatory operations.