A Look Back at the 2025 Patient Access Collaborative
A Productive and Inspiring Event
At the 2025 Patient Access Collaborative Symposium in Houston, leaders from nearly 100 health systems gathered to confront a problem that defies simple solutions: patient access.
Over five days of case studies, workshops, and peer exchange, one theme became undeniable—access isn’t a puzzle to be solved, but a wicked problem to be navigated.
Coined by theorists Rittel and Webber, a wicked problem is one without a clear definition, endpoint, or universal solution. Access to care fits this description perfectly. Every system faces its own version of the challenge, shaped by geography, infrastructure, staffing, and community needs. As participants shared live examples—from CRM rollouts to referral conversion efforts—the Symposium revealed the variety of strategies underway and the necessity of tailoring them locally.
Collaboration is the cornerstone of progress. The Symposium brought together operations leaders, system executives, clinical directors, data analysts, and access strategists to share what’s working—and what’s not. Their case studies served as living documents of access transformation, not with definitive answers, but with real-world lessons that others could adapt and build upon.
Most of all, the gathering reinforced a critical shift: access is no longer a background function. It’s a strategic, enterprise-wide priority that affects everything from health equity to system reputation.
Read the full blog for five takeaways on how our members are advancing solutions to one of healthcare’s most enduring—and evolving—challenges.
What Did You Think?
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Patient Access Collaborative Symposium
And The Winners Are....
We are pleased to share a full list of award winners from this year. This includes individuals who were recognized during the symposium, as well as those who were not present at the event.
Each awardee is being celebrated for their outstanding achievements, and we extend our heartfelt congratulations to all of you.
Thank you for your contributions and commitment—we’re proud to honor your success.
Gable Award
Grace Fangman, Director | Business Operations & Strategic Planning, Texas Children's Hospital.
Access Leader of the Year Award
Jamie Kern, Senior Director of Access and Capacity Management, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Ann Blanchard, Director of Enterprise Data Warehouse, Data Analytics, Access Innovations, Capacity Management, and Referral CORE, Nebraska Medicine.
Emerging Access Leader of the Year Award
Dr. Dominic King, Enterprise Medical Director, Cleveland Clinic.
Robin Van Marter, Assistant Director of Centralized Patient Access Services, UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Best Practice Winners
University of Iowa Health Care for “Ensuring Triage During an Acquisition”
UCI Health for “Workforce Forecast, Access Built to Last”
Geisinger for “Hospital Discharge Refresh”
Stanford Health Care for “Optimizing Care and Access: The Value and Impact of a Centralized Nurse Triage Call Center”
Best Practice Honorable Mention
VCU Health for “An Innovative Approach to Combining Inefficiency and Access”
Nebraska Medicine for “Ambulatory Access Digitalization Acceleration”
Mount Sinai for “Impact of Workforce and Quality Initiatives on Metric Improvement”
Houston Methodist for “Imaging Scheduling Centralization”
Access Innovation Winner
WVU Hospitals for “No Show Initiative”
Access Innovation Honorable Mention
Mayo Clinic for “Automating Fax Referrals through GenAI”
Mount Sinai for “Impact of Referral Management Initiatives on Referral Conversion”
Stanford Health for “Transforming Patient Access Through MyHealth Asynchronous Care Optimization”
Community Impact in Access Winner
University of Mississippi/ Children’s of Mississippi for “Improving Care Equity by Eliminating Referral Loss”
Community Impact in Access Honorable Mentions
Henry Ford Health for “Community Partner Referral Program”
MD Anderson for “Clearing the Path: A Novel Approach to Overcoming Financial Barriers Through Enhanced Patient Support”
View/Download Handout and Presentations
In case you’d like to have another look at the incredible presentations and handouts, they are available on our PAC Engage Portal or by clicking the button below.
Photos from the Symposium
Click the button below to view photos from the event.
What is the Symposium?
Watch the video below where Elizabeth W. Woodcock, DrPH, MBA, FACMPE, CPC, Founder & Executive Director of the Patient Access Collaborative talks about the meaning and purpose of the symposium.
In a time when healthcare access is more complex than ever, this gathering brings together some of the most dedicated, insightful, and innovative minds in patient access. We share data, ideas, strategies—and maybe most importantly, support.
What makes this symposium special isn’t just the content (though it’s always stellar). It’s the people. Leaders and learners from across the country come together not just to improve operations, but to champion better experiences for patients and teams alike.
Best Practice in Access Posters
Our award winners were asked to create posters, which were displayed during the conference. To further our collective knowledge, we will be highlighting the posters on a rotating basis on our website, social media, podcast, and members-only listserv during the coming months.
Stay tuned to learn more!
Special Thank You to our Local Institutions
We could not have done it without our local institutions, MD Anderson, Texas Children's Hospital, and Houston Methodist. We would like to thank them for their support.
