Irene Zheng, Contributing Photographer

On Sept. 9, 2024, Yale New Haven Health and School of Medicine officials gathered for an online town hall meeting to share progress and outline future plans for their strategic alignment. 

Leaders from the health system and the medical school discussed their alignment efforts, focusing on key initiatives such as utilizing Artificial Intelligence to enhance healthcare delivery, improving patient access through the “Access 365” program and implementing a comprehensive Joint Clinical Strategic Plan. 

According to officials, the alignment aims to drive clinical excellence, streamline operations and improve patient outcomes, propelling the institutions’ shared vision to become a national leader in healthcare.

“Our shared aspiration is to achieve extraordinary gains in individual, community and global health,” said Christopher O’Connor, CEO of Yale New Haven Health, emphasizing the significance of the alignment in reinforcing their position as one of the nation’s premier academic health systems.

How AI will contribute to alignment’s success

Artificial Intelligence is poised to transform the alignment efforts, enhancing clinical care and operational efficiency. 

Lucila Ohno-Machado, the deputy dean for biomedical informatics at the School of Medicine, described AI as a critical tool for modernizing healthcare.

According to Ohno-Machado, AI is already being employed in various departments to predict patient outcomes, assist in selecting appropriate therapies, and automate documentation processes. 

AI is being leveraged for predictive analytics in radiology, where it helps prioritize urgent cases and ensures that normal findings are processed efficiently, Lee Schwamm, associate dean for digital strategy and transformation at the medical school, said.

For example, AI-driven scribing tools have been implemented to reduce the time clinicians spend on paperwork, freeing them to spend more time on direct patient care. These tools use natural language processing to automatically generate clinical notes from patient-provider interactions, significantly reducing the documentation burden on clinicians.

Beyond clinical care, AI is also being used to optimize operational workflows, such as administrative tasks and billing processes. With over 50 AI-related projects currently underway, Schwamm explained, the health system and the medical school are positioning themselves as leaders in the field of medical AI, with plans to expand these efforts across various specialties and administrative areas.

Schwamm said that the introduction of generative AI into patient-provider interactions is “democratizing the use of AI.” 

The AI initiatives are expected to enhance patient outcomes and improve the overall healthcare experience by reducing wait times, personalizing treatments and ensuring the most efficient use of resources. 

According to Schwamm, future plans include expanding AI tools to more areas within the health system, including nursing, pharmacy, social work and community health, creating a comprehensive, AI-enhanced ecosystem that supports both patients and healthcare providers.

Alignment aspiration to action: joint clinical strategic plan

The Joint Clinical Strategic Plan is a cornerstone of the Yale New Haven Health and School of Medicine alignment, with the objective of establishing the health system as a premier academic destination for healthcare. 

This plan focuses on creating integrated service lines, developing destination programs and enhancing resource utilization to attract and retain top-tier healthcare professionals across all levels.

“We want to be the only place in the country where patients can come to get a certain level of care and specific types of services,” said Pamela Sutton-Wallace, president of Yale New Haven Health. “We’re focusing on areas where we can truly differentiate ourselves, such as heart and vascular, neurosciences, cancer and transplant services.”

According to Sutton-Wallace, the strategy is built around five main pillars: leading system-wide service lines, building foundational care models, optimizing resources, expanding geographically and investing strategically to ensure profitability and growth. 

For example, the health system is working to expand its geographical footprint beyond the Connecticut shoreline into areas with higher patient density and potentially into neighboring states. This expansion is expected to diversify the payer mix and enhance market reach.

Strategic investments in new equipment, technology, infrastructure and staffing are also planned to support this growth.

“It’s critical that we think about our strategic investments carefully, demonstrating a return on investment that allows us to reinvest in our spaces, places, and people,” Sutton-Wallace added. 

The plan, Sutton-Wallace explained, also emphasizes the need for interdependencies across various clinical and ancillary areas, such as imaging, laboratory services and operating rooms, to support the growth of these population-based service lines.

An example of this strategy in action is the focus on expanding complex aortic procedures within the heart and vascular service line. This involves active recruitment in cardiothoracic surgery, vascular surgery and cardiology to create a robust network of care that draws patients from across the Northeast and beyond. 

The plan also addresses the need for new recruitment and retention strategies for both clinical and non-clinical staff to support these expanded service lines, highlighting the importance of a strong workforce to sustain growth and maintain high standards of care.

Access 365 update 

Yale New Haven Health is moving forward with the Access 365 initiative, a project aiming to streamline the process for patients, providers and staff to access clinical services. 

The initiative aims to ensure that patients receive the right care at the right time, with a focus on increasing convenience, reducing wait times and improving overall patient satisfaction.

According to Margaret McGovern, CEO of Yale Medicine, the goal is to create a “one-contact resolution” — patients should be able to make one call to take care of all appointments, she said. 

The initiative involves several strategies to simplify patient access, such as providing a single phone number for all appointment requests and developing comprehensive self-service options for scheduling and managing appointments. 

The initiative work is being rolled out in multiple waves, including different departments. So far, the first wave has been implemented, focused on radiology, orthopedics and primary care.

The initial results have been promising, according to McGovern. The initiative reduced the number of redundant or unnecessary visit types in radiology by 81 percent, simplifying scheduling and increasing capacity for additional patient visits. In orthopedics and primary care, similar efforts led to a 24 percent and 30 percent increase in capacity, respectively. 

Future waves, such as the ongoing wave two, will target more complex areas, such as neurology, neurosurgery, urology and the heart and vascular services.  

According to McGovern, each phase is designed to build on the lessons learned from earlier waves, continuously refining processes and enhancing the patient experience. The initiative also includes expanding clinical triage hours, optimizing the use of consumer-friendly technology — like phone, text, chat and telehealth — and employing data-driven campaigns to attract new patients to the system.

By the end of November, McGovern promises that primary care services will be fully centralized, and additional phases will continue to build upon these foundational changes. This gradual, disciplined approach allows for continual improvements and adaptations based on performance tracking and feedback from stakeholders.

Yale New Haven Health is located at 20 York St.