Improving veterans' access to gastroenterology clinical care

JAAPA. 2018 Mar;31(3):47-49. doi: 10.1097/01.JAA.0000530296.15656.8a.

Abstract

At a VA hospital, wait times for gastroenterology care have been in the order of 60 to 90 days for new clinic consults. Through a quality improvement process, these times were reduced to less than 30 days. With a revised triage process, the number of consults needing to be scheduled into the clinic was reduced 34%. In addition to achieving rapid clinical access, the weekly half-day clinic became less congested and more efficient. We describe this process of achieving improved access.

MeSH terms

  • Ambulatory Care / standards*
  • Gastroenterology / standards*
  • Health Services Accessibility / standards*
  • Hospitals, Veterans / standards*
  • Humans
  • Quality Improvement*
  • Time Factors
  • Time-to-Treatment / standards
  • United States
  • United States Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Veterans Health / standards
  • Waiting Lists