Presenters: Mary Therese Hankinson, MBA, MS, RD, Public Affairs Specialist, Department of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System; Donna L. Faraone, CPHQ, Performance Improvement Coordinator, Department of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System

    This session will describe how VA New Jersey Health Care System used advanced clinic access strategies and applied a “facility communication model” to sustain specialty clinic access and patient satisfaction at two medical centers and a community-based outpatient clinic. The integration of a performance improvement structure, use of technology, and staff participation will also be discussed.
    After this presentation you will be able to:

• Identify tools and strategies for addressing barriers to sustained performance improvement.
• Discuss assessment tools that help determine sustainability.
• Describe a communication model that facilitates spread and sustains gains for clinic access.
• Describe marketing strategies to sustain patient and employee satisfaction.