Explore every episode of the podcast PAC's All Access Pass Podcast

How many patients is too many? In this episode, Dr. Kevin Shah, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Primary Care at Duke University Health joins us to unpack the complex science—and art—of managing patient panels.

Joy of Practice is the beating heart of healthcare.It represents the very reason our clinicians practice medicine in the first place, underscoring the fundamental purpose behind their care delivery. Despite their passion for patients, clinician burnout is threatening to destabilize the entire supply of the already-burdened healthcare industry. In this month’s inspiring episode, we explore why clinicians’ well-being is essential to patient access, and how access leaders can uplifttheir efforts through compassionate leadership.

Elizabeth Woodcock, Founder and Executive Director of PAC,is joined by Lisa Griffin, MBA, CCCM, Chief Consumer Officer atUniversity Hospitals, and Dr. Christine Sinsky, Vice President ofProfessional Satisfaction at the American Medical Association.

Together, they unpack the recent surge in clinician burnout,and the responsibility of access leaders to build meaningful relationships with the clinicians who make up the ambulatory enterprise. Tune in on Spotify and Apple podcasts for more!

Our leaders know that patient access is a fundamental pillar of healthcare, but until now, there has been no standardized definition or framework to guide access leaders. This begs the question - what could our community of experts create if they came together to define the key elements of patient access management?

This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock, DrPH, MBA; Senior Director of Research, Chris Profeta, MPH; and Children's National's VP of Ambulatory Services and a member of our Professional Development Committee, Marc DiFazio, MD, sit down to celebrate the upcoming publication of the Patient Access Collaborative's groundbreaking research study.

Together, they break down the Patient Access Management Framework—the first comprehensive, evidence-based model that defines patient access -- and the key determinants that shape it. They discuss the Delphi survey methodology used to reach expert consensus, the determinants identified in the study, and how this research provides a roadmap for health systems to reliably improve simple, timely, and connected ambulatory care.

Tune in to explore how this landmark study is transforming patient access management and what it means for the future of healthcare.

The link to the full publication can be accessed here!

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Wildfires have ravaged South California in recent months, forcing health system leaders to navigate patient access disruptions while ensuring continuity of care. Beyond the immediate crisis, these disasters create lasting "access debt"—a backlog of delayed appointments and unmet patient needs that can overwhelm health systems long after the flames have died down. How can access leaders prepare for and recover from such disruptions?

This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Aimee Corke, Director of Emergency Management and Business Continuity at Northwell Health; Connie Lee, MPH, FACHE, Senior Director of Patient Access at UCLA Health; and Leigh Bouskila Turk, MHA, Director of Practice Development and Support Services at Nicklaus Children’s.

The leaders share firsthand experiences managing patient access during wildfires, hurricanes, and other emergencies—discussing business continuity strategies, recovery planning, and how to maintain access in the face of disruption.

​​Our patients hail from every corner of the Earth, and differences in the languages we speak can become a serious barrier to effective care. But what happens when the data doesn't tell the story we expect? This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Stephanie Schmidt, MS, Senior Director of Ambulatory Care and Access Services at Oregon Health & Science University; Joel Hudnall, Epic Configuration Analyst for Change Management and Strategic Access Support at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Ryzell McKinney, EdD, MACD, CCCM, Director of Access Technology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The researchers discuss the complexities of health equity in patient access, highlighting research on preferred-language appointment reminders and the need for multifaceted strategies to address disparities.

Leading health systems all face the same problem: how can we maximize clinician efficiency while ensuring patients receive timely care? This month, the podcast features two distinguished leaders from Geisinger Health; special guest host Patrick Kokoruda, MHA, CCSL, Vice President of Clinical Access Management sits down for an episode with George Ruiz, MD, Chair of Cardiology. Together, they explore innovative and collaborative strategies for optimizing capacity, structuring clinicians’ time, and leveraging technology to deliver scalable, patient-centered care.

Reliability is foundational to creating trust with our patients - and effective change management provides the tools we need to achieve it. In this episode, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Dominic King, DO, FAOASM, FAMIA, Enterprise Medical Director of Access Transformation and High Reliability Coach at Cleveland Clinic, and Jalana McCasland, FACHE, DSL, Vice President of Ambulatory Operations at VCU Health. Together, they provide expert insights into change management, including fostering staff buy-in, implementing sustainable improvements, and adapting systems to meet evolving patient needs. Hear how they tackle challenges like system inefficiencies and team engagement while sharing practical insights to enhance both patient and staff experiences.

Despite our best efforts, non-attendance remains one of the most persistent and damaging challenges for access leaders. In this episode, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock is joined by non-attendance experts Allison Gornik, PhD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and Lorna Kernizan, FACHE, MBA, Chief Ambulatory Officer at Children's Mississippi. Together, they explore the pervasive effects of missed appointments and share strategies to tackle non-attendance while enhancing patient care and optimizing resources.

Behavioral science underlies each of the important decisions we make – and the complex world of patient access is no exception. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Clara Doan, Senior Director of Patient Access at UMass Memorial Healthcare, and Chris Profeta, MPH, Senior Director of Research at the Patient Access Collaborative. Our panel of experts explore key concepts in behavioral science like recency bias, active commitment, and the framing effect, offering actionable strategies for healthcare leaders to drive meaningful improvements in patient access.

Mayo Clinic's Innovation Contact Center is where new tools, technologies, and workflows are tested to refine patient access initiatives. Join us as Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock hosts esteemed guests Elissa Nelson, MA, Senior Director, Systems Transformation, Enterprise Office of Access Management Infrastructure Services, Mayo Clinic, and Courtnie Garteski Bergler, Director of Digital New Appointment Learning and Innovations - Systems and Transformation, Mayo Clinic, as they discuss their insights on minimizing disruptions and scaling improvements across the health system.

The role of the access medical director is rapidly emerging as leaders across the country redefine how health systems approach patient access. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with three innovative leaders: Brian Crum, MD, Access Medical Director, Associate Professor of Neurology, Mayo Clinic; Bryan Tsao, MD, Access Medical Director, Vice President of Access, Professor of Neurology, Loma Linda University Health; and Alice Cooper, OGNP, RNC, Access Medical Director, Vice Chair for Ambulatory Services, Department of Ob/Gyn, Duke Health. Together, they share insights on collaboration, systems-thinking, and leadership strategies for driving impactful change in ambulatory patient access.

The Patient Access Collaborative had the honor of working with our friends and esteemed colleagues at Emory Healthcare to host this year’s PAC Symposium in our home city of Atlanta. In review, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Emory’s own Sarah Kier, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Patient Access at Emory Healthcare, to reflect on the Symposium’s highlights. Together, they explore the groundbreaking EmoryNow initiative, which achieved over a 10% increase in ambulatory volumes using existing capacity. They also celebrate the legacy of access legend Bill Gable, whose contributions continue to inspire leaders across the field.

The leaders at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center decided that patient access should be the number one strategic imperative across the health system. However, their journey spelled out an important lesson along the way: we must place our trust in the patient before we can achieve our access goals. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with pioneering access leader Kelly Turner, MHA, Vice President of Patient Access Programs and Destination Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Together, they discuss how Kelly and her team are driving post-pandemic recovery at one of the nation’s most prestigious cancer centers. From elevating the role of ambulatory access to reducing barriers and focusing on patient-centered care, this episode explores MSK Cancer Center’s path to improving volume and enhancing the patient experience.

Data is the foundation of effective decision-making, offering health system leaders the tools they need to uncover opportunities and drive meaningful change. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Rebecca Carey, MBA, PMP, Vice President, Ambulatory Access, Stanford Children’s Health, and Chris Profeta, MPH, Senior Director of Research and Instruction at the Patient Access Collaborative. Together, they explore the role of data as evidence in managing change, leveraging academic research to support decisions, and ensuring that data-driven strategies avoid unintended consequences.

Reliable access to primary care is foundational to any healthy population, but achieving that goal is anything but simple. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with three inspiring primary care leaders: Dr. Melissa Blakeman, Medical Director for Patient Access, Regional Medical Director, Maryland Suburbs, Johns Hopkins Community Physicians; Dr. Jessica Nordstrom, Access Medical Director for Baylor Scott & White Medical Group; and Dr. Gina Engel, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory for UVA Health. Together, they address some of the innovative strategies primary care leaders are using to improve access, tackle systemic barriers, and chart a hopeful path forward—ensuring better outcomes for our patients and communities alike.

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.

Centralized nurse triage is quickly emerging as an innovative tool for facilitating patient access. Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock joins Greg Addicott, MSN, RN, CCRN, Director of Nursing – Consumer Experience & Access at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Kendra Sutton, DNP, RN-BC, NEA-BC, Director of Telehealth Nursing at Baylor, Scott & White Health, and Laurie O'Bryan, Director of the Outpatient Access Center at UNC Health NurseConnect, to examine the role of centralized nurse triage in enhancing patient experience, supporting quality care, and navigating access and care transitions.

Contact center management is foundational to patient access, but today’s health system leaders are facing wicked new problems as technology and staffing needs continue to evolve. Join Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock in conversation with Michael Hesseltine, Director of Ancillary Services at the University of Iowa Patient Access Center; and John Schultz, Director of Contact Center Operations, Ambulatory Services at Children’s National Hospital, as they focus on fundamental issues in contact center management, including staffing, retention, provider template management, and navigating increased appointment channels.

Leveraging the capacity management toolbox is vital to creating and sustaining patient access. In this episode, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Hitan Kamdar, MS, MBA, Executive Director of Patient Access and Patient Experience, Geroge Washington University Medical Faculty; as well as Gina Carilli, Manager of Schedule Optimization at Baystate Health, to highlight strategies that optimize providers' time and improve efficiency for the ambulatory enterprise.

In the ambulatory enterprise, there is no resource more precious than capacity. Leaders at Geisinger health are pioneering new solutions to optimize the use of this invaluable capacity, and they’ve generously shared their insights as a part of the PAC’s All Access Pass. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Patrick Kokoruda, MHA, CCSL, Vice President of Clinical Access Management at Geisinger, to explore how one of Pennsylvania’s most prestigious health systems is tackling this challenge. Patrick shares how Geisinger maximizes capacity utilization through physician collaboration and technology-driven scheduling enhancements to ensure patients receive the care they need when they need it . Be sure to listen to Patrick’s latest episode, where he outlines key access improvements at Geisinger!

Creating patient access is already a challenge for children's hospitals, but sustaining that change adds yet another layer of complexity. Texas Children's is no exception, and yet their creative leaders have succeeded in making key interventions ‘stick’ in the wake of COVID. Join Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock as she talks access with Grace Karon, Director of Business Operations and Strategic Planning, Department of Pediatrics and eHealth at Texas Children’s, to discuss how the health system is navigating access opportunities in the post-pandemic era.