2017 - Competency AC-A
Competency A: The practice seeks to enhance access by providing appointments and clinical advice based on patients’ needs.
AC 01 (Core): Assesses the access needs and preferences of the patient population
The practice evaluates patient access from collected data (i.e., survey, patient interviews, comment box) to determine if existing access methods are sufficient for its population. Alternative methods for access may include evening/weekend hours, types of appointments or telephone advice. Documented process and evidence of implementation is required.
AC 02 (Core): Provides same-day appointments for routine and urgent care to meet identified patient needs
The practice reserves time on the daily appointment schedule to accommodate patient requests for a same-day appointment for routine or for urgent care needs. The time frames allocated for these appointment types are determined by the practice and based on the needs of the patient population, as defined in AC 01.
As evidence of implementation, a report should be provided that includes a 5-day schedule to demonstrate the appointments are available or a report demonstrating which same-day appointments were used.
| Description | Example/Screenshot/Documentation | Source | Date Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCC Examples for providing availability for same day appointments | PCC Documentation re: same day appointments | PCC | 09/06/17 |
AC 03 (Core): Provides routine and urgent appointments outside regular business hours to meet identified patient needs
The practice recognizes that patients’ care needs are not confined to normal operating hours, and therefore offers routine and urgent care appointments outside typical business hours. For example, a practice may open for appointments at 7 a.m. or remain open until 8 p.m. on certain days or on open on alternating Saturdays. A practice that cannot provide care outside regular business hours (e.g., a small practice with limited staffing) may arrange for patients to schedule appointments with other facilities or clinicians. The practice may use an urgent care center in the same health system for urgent and routine appointments outside regular business hours, or an urgent care center in the community that has access to patient records.
Providing extended access does not include:
- Offering appointments when the practice would otherwise be closed for lunch.
- Offering daytime appointments when the practice would otherwise close early (e.g., a Friday afternoon or holiday).
- Utilizing an ER or urgent care facility that is unaffiliated with the practice.
You must produce a documented process for arranging access outside of regular business hours. You should also produce a report from of appointments restricted to appointment times happening outside of regular business hours. The report must include at least 5 days of appointment data.
| Description | Example/Screenshot/Documentation | Source | Date Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| The srs "Appointment Stat Report - Day of Week/Reason" in the "Scheduling Reports" category can be used. Restrict this to show only appointments for after-hours times when the office is not open (Sat, Sun after 12:00pm for example). Be sure to exclude cancelled/missed appointments | Example of PCC report showing appointments scheduled outside regular business hours | PCC | 05/27/15 |
AC 04 (Core): Provides timely clinical advice by telephone
Clinicians return calls in a time frame determined by the practice. Clinical advice must be provided by qualified clinical staff, but may be communicated by any member of the care team, as permitted under state licensing laws. NCQA reviews a report summarizing the practice’s expected response times and how it monitors its performance against standards for timely response. The practice must present data on at least 7- days of such calls.
A documented process for providing timely advice to patients over the phone is also required to meet this factor. PCC EHR clients should record phone calls as phone encounters. For calls that need a callback, a phone task should be created with an appropriate task type and this task should be completed once the phone call has been initially responded to. As documentation for this factor, users can generate a report of phone calls and response times using the "Phone Encounter Performance Report" in the EHR. This report can be used as a call log showing each phone call including response time to complete the first associated task.
| Description | Example/Screenshot/Documentation | Source | Date Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCC Documentation showing how to provide timely clinical advice during and after office hours | Providing timely clinical advice | PCC | 7/3/14 |