Focus on Patient Access: Q&A with Tesha Montgomery
What exactly is meant by system patient access?
System patient access is about connecting patients and consumers to the right provider or service at the right time, seamlessly, via the mode preferred by the patient. We want to be the most accessible health care system in Houston. When patients think about where they can easily go to receive unparalleled quality care and service from the best physicians and staff, we want them to immediately think of Houston Methodist.
What is your vision for improving system patient access?
Make it seamless. We must put ourselves in the shoes of the patients and consumers who reach out to us daily and reconstruct our workflows and processes to make it easy to navigate across our system. Our patients want convenience and when they can’t easily secure the appointments needed, they will delay care or even go elsewhere.
What challenges do patients face when accessing health care?
One of the biggest challenges patients face is not being able to get the care they desire when they want or need it. Other challenges include having to navigate through multiple channels, callbacks and delays before appointments are made. Several initiatives have been put in place to address these challenges including the growth of our Same Day Clinics, Virtual Urgent Care and the expansion of online scheduling.
How are we making system patient access a priority?
We are being intentional about addressing patient access. As a system working together, we are dedicating attention, time and resources to drive the necessary improvements. We’re also investing in technology and innovation to improve our patient experience. We are turning our collective focus on this.
What are we doing to address and improve system patient access?
Improving access is a multi-faceted approach. We are accessing our scheduling workflows, exploring ways to increase capacity, and leveraging technology we already have available to us, such as Epic eCheck-in, fast pass (automatically notifying patients on our waitlist that appointments are available when late cancellations occur) and building scheduling decision trees. We are also partnering with marketing and IT to create an enhanced digital front door experience, where consumers can see appointment availability much sooner on our website and easily schedule.
Tell us about your path to Houston Methodist.
I’m originally from Ohio and went to nursing school and grad school at The Ohio State University. I started working in healthcare as a unit clerk and patient care associate at The James Cancer hospital while in college. My nursing career began with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Columbus, OH. From there, I spent 11 years with the Mayo Clinic, working in a variety of administrative leadership roles. In 2014, I moved to Houston to oversee the physician network and ACO operations of another large local healthcare system before joining Houston Methodist in 2018 as the vice president of operations and patient access for the physician organization. I remained in that role until transitioning into my current role with system patient access at the beginning of this year.