The strategic partnership that helped GI expand patient access

Sometimes the best solution happens to be one of the fastest and cheapest.

For several years, demand for UC Davis Health’s gastroenterology (GI) services has been skyrocketing, with orders for endoscopy and colonoscopy procedures backlogged into the thousands.

The Department of Internal Medicine recognized this need and nearly doubled their faculty in the past four years. Yet there simply wasn’t enough room to practice.

It was time to get creative.

Thinking Big

GI needed space to grow. The Folsom clinic has GI services but providers were already working at capacity. The facility doesn’t offer deep sedation, which means fewer patient cases per day. While UC Davis Health was also breaking ground on the Folsom Medical Office Building, there was insufficient available space in the building for GI.

It was clear Folsom was an attractive area for clinical investment. The city was booming. Between 2018 and 2023, the population grew by 10%, to 88,000 people, and demand for local health care skyrocketed.

Where could UC Davis Health get more space in an attractive market, without spending $21.7 million to build a new GI suite in an ambulatory surgery center?

Getting strategic

Ambulatory Operations and clinical leaders enlisted the help of the Office of Strategy and Growth. The team is responsible for accelerating growth and identifying opportunities that secure the future of UC Davis Health.

We need [the Office of Strategy & Growth] to analyze the market because we are so operations-focused."—Tanya Mullen, executive director, Ambulatory Operations

“We need them to analyze the market because we are so operations-focused,” said Executive Director of Ambulatory Operations Tanya Mullen. In other words, she and her team know if a building will meet clinical needs but need support identifying whether an opportunity makes long-term financial sense.

“From the beginning of the process, the Strategy & Growth team involved the physicians, nursing leadership and clinical operations management into the decision making process,” said Christopher Bowlus, chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Through this partnership, Strategy helped identify and propose a solution to ease GI access with a lower financial burden over a shorter timeline and with positive returns: a 25% ownership opportunity in a GI clinic called The Folsom Sierra Endoscopy Center (FSEC).

In addition to significantly increasing current GI procedure capacity, the facility also offers room to expand in a key market and a choice for patients whose insurance plans won’t cover certain GI procedures at a hospital-based outpatient department.

In May 2024, FSEC opened its doors to UC Davis Health patients, at a $9 million savings to the system. The joint venture will also earn money and allow UC Davis Health to recover its investment in six years.  

“This [new location] allows us to expand access in a novel way,” said Bowlus.

Partnering for the future

The remainder of this year’s work will happen behind the scenes, as operations works with IT to integrate the FSEC facility’s scheduling and patient/provider communications into MyChart. Otherwise, service at UC Davis Health’s main Folsom Clinic will continue as usual and staff will not be disrupted.

“This collaborative and innovative effort led by the Strategy and Growth team not only significantly increased our capacity to serve patients but did so in a remarkably cost-effective manner,” said Ambulatory Chief Medical Officer Debbie Aizenberg. “By working together, our clinical and strategy teams have enhanced our ability to provide timely, high-quality GI care to our community.”

Without the close partnership with the clinical and operations teams, this transaction simply could not have happened.”—Ron Amodeo, chief strategy officer

Chief Strategy Officer Ron Amodeo added, “Without the close partnership with the clinical and operations teams, this transaction simply could not have happened.”

Folsom is growing, and UC Davis Health is growing with it.