Ambulatory clinics rank top 8 in prestigious quality care award as outpatient facilities are busier than ever

Students have returned to school, parents have gone back to work and more businesses are opening up in the hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic is waning. As a result, patients, families and caregivers are making their way back to UC Davis Health’s ambulatory clinics to seek care for themselves and their loved ones.

Recent numbers from the UC Davis Heath Daily Volume report showed that Sacramento-area clinics saw an all-time high of more than 4,100 patients a day, including nearly 650 telehealth visits. These are record-setting numbers across the system.

Notably, UC  Davis Health’s ambulatory care operations recently ranked eight out of 53 participating academic medical centers in Vizient’s 2021 Ambulatory Quality and Accountability performance Scorecard. This award recognizes excellence in delivering high-quality outpatient care in five categories including access to care, continuum of care, quality, efficiency and equity. Recognized as top performer, UC Davis Health’s ambulatory care clinics have adopted world-class practices and solutions that enhance and refine the patient experience.

Mike Condrin, COO of Ambulatory Care Operations at UC Davis Health, said, “It takes a lot of hard work from a lot of amazing people to provide quality care for that many patients.”

He added, “Our goal is to meet patients where they are, in-person or virtually, and provide them with unparalleled care. Because of our incredible ambulatory care staff, we’re achieving that goal.”

From July 2019 to February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in lockdown measures, ambulatory clinics were seeing slightly more than 3,500 patients a day with minimal telehealth visits. When stay-at-home orders took effect, telehealth visits jumped from a few dozen a day to more than 1,000 daily encounters. Thanks to the ease of UC Davis Health’s new Express Care platform, which is available to all patients, regardless of their health insurance, and safely accessed via mobile devices, patients are now able to see a physician on-demand. This key new service has greatly bolstered ambulatory clinics’ ability to see and treat more patients than ever before. 

Texas-based Vizient, Inc. is a health care services company that provides expertise, analytics and advisory services for acute care providers, including academic medical centers and ambulatory care providers.

“We plan to use the data from the Vizient scorecards to guide further improvements in patient care,” said Condrin. “Patients are at the center of all we do.”