SCP worked in tandem with the fully supportive facility leadership team to build relationships with the medical team, understand the biggest pain points of the ED, and make meaningful changes. The SCP team:

• Regularly met in-person with ED providers and nurses. These transparent conversations created a space to establish mutual trust; address apprehension, questions, and issues; and discuss new ideas
• Conducted a comprehensive, multi-day operations assessment to understand needs and areas for improvement. Additionally, SCP collaborated with the facility’s Director of Quality by gathering weekly metrics from emergency medicine (EM) teams and using that data to drive efficiency and improve patient flow.
• Implemented three important changes:
  • New coverage model: Added several NPs and PAs to the EM provider rotation, alleviating the burden on physicians.
  • New reimbursement model: Switched the ED to an RVU model, gaining provider buy-in by demonstrating the financial benefit to providers.
  • New triage model: Introduced a provider-in-triage model, including nurses to carry out orders while the patient was still in triage. Applied a pull-until-full strategy to free up triage staff and decrease door-to-provider time.