The Increasing Need for Ambulatory Care During COVID-19

by Michelle Garrison, CPXP

Like many of you, I have witnessed the changing environment of healthcare during these challenging times. In recent days, with two teenagers who are back in school, I have started to catch up on scheduling their doctors’ visits, dentist checkups and orthodontist appointments that have been suspended these last few months. I realize that we are not unique in this, delaying in-person visits to lessen our exposure to COVID-19. In fact, in The Beryl Institute’s recent report on Consumer Perspectives on Patient Experience in the U.S., it was revealed that consumer engagement in healthcare continues to decline, with consumers reporting fewer visits to primary care providers, hospitals, labs and specialist providers.

We have also seen providers deferring elective and preventative visits. When patients do return to their providers’ offices, they are finding extra processes and procedures implemented to ensure they have a safe experience. These providers are finding new ways to care for their patients ranging from offering telemedicine visits, extending treatments including lab work to patients in their cars and asking patients to remain in their cars until their appointment time. In some cases, our cars have become an extension of the healthcare space, acting as waiting rooms and partial exam rooms.

Even before COVID-19, safety, quality, service, cost and outcomes have always been an integral and important part of the patient experience conversation, but there is even more of a focus today as we continue to face these challenging times. Now more than ever, there is a recognition that COVID-19 is changing how healthcare is being delivered, especially in the ambulatory care environment, which includes settings such as physician offices and clinics, surgery centers, hospital outpatient departments, pharmacies, labs, testing centers and dialysis centers. Organizations and providers are charged with providing healthcare in the safest way possible to decrease the risk of transmitting the virus to patients, family members and staff.

Under these challenging conditions, there is an increased opportunity in this space to address the unique challenges specific to delivering an exceptional experience. As we continue to see healthcare innovation and increased adaptability to providing patient care services – while meeting the changing demands across healthcare systems – professionals in ambulatory settings will need tools, resources and connections to support them in this important work to transform the human experience in this environment.

To support our community in these efforts, we recently created an Ambulatory Care Community resource page, identifying resources in our library with an ambulatory care focus, making them easily accessible. This resource center serves our community with white papers, research reports, webinars and more. Members are also invited to join the Ambulatory Care special interest community to receive ambulatory care-specific newsletters, notifications of upcoming events and to participate in the Ambulatory Care Community discussion boards available in PX Connect.

To further support the growth of this community, we are excited to announce the creation of an Ambulatory Care Council. The Council will identify and define best practices, exploring how to continually improve the patient experience in this space. Joining our other boards and councils, this group of leaders will provide thoughtful and critical guidance, working collaboratively with The Beryl Institute to develop a strategy for engaging represented leaders in the broader patient experience movement as well as inform the efforts of the Institute through the development of a content pipeline for publications, webinars and other resources.

We look forward to the partnership with this new Council and the opportunity to continue to elevate the conversation around improving the human experience in the ambulatory care environment.

Michelle Garrison, CPXP
Vice President, Membership
The Beryl Institute