Access Center Innovation in Action
By Elizabeth Woodcock, DrPH, MBA, FACMPE, CPC, Executive Director, Patient Access Collaborative
The 2026 Virtual Access Center Conference brought together access leaders from across the country for a focused, fast-paced afternoon dedicated to the operational front door of healthcare – the access center. The February conference featured presentations from nationally-recognized access leaders representing Keck School of Medicine of USC, Penn Medicine, University Hospitals, Baylor Scott & White Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and UCLA Health, each offering practical strategies to strengthen access center performance and resilience.
Across every session, one theme emerged clearly: access centers are no longer static operational units. They are evolving into sophisticated, data-driven environments where hiring strategy, technology adoption, and workforce engagement directly influence access to care, organizational competitiveness, and financial performance.
Scaling Quality and Engagement Through Automated Quality Management
William Stewart, M.Ed., Senior Manager of Quality, Workforce Planning and Development and Cole Lyons, MBA, Quality Analyst, of Penn Medicine, presented how automated quality management (AQM) is transforming performance measurement and workforce engagement within the access center.
Historically, quality reviews were limited to small samples of calls, constraining leaders’ ability to fully assess performance. With automation, Penn Medicine expanded quality evaluation from a handful of calls per agent per month to roughly half of all calls, dramatically increasing visibility into performance trends and enabling more targeted coaching.
This shift also allowed quality measurement to serve as a powerful motivational tool. As the Penn Medicine team explained, “It is a quarterly financial incentive. The program has three payout tiers. Performance in the five identified KPIs dictates which tier an agent qualifies for.”
These KPIs - including adherence, attendance, after-call work, quality score, and service level - aligned individual performance directly with organizational priorities. Rather than replacing leadership oversight, automation enhanced leaders’ ability to identify opportunities, support agents, and reinforce accountability.
Rethinking Access Center Hiring: Expanding the Workforce Beyond Geographic Boundaries
Lisa Griffin, MBA, CCCM, Chief Consumer Officer at University Hospitals, delivered a compelling presentation on how workforce strategy must evolve to meet growing access demand.
Griffin described how reliance on local hiring alone created operational vulnerability, particularly amid rising competition for talent and increasing turnover. “Local-only hiring limits resilience,” Griffin explained. “Global hiring is no longer simply a staffing alternative. It’s a workforce continuity strategy.”
By expanding hiring beyond geographic boundaries, University Hospitals increased staffing stability, improved schedule coverage, and strengthened operational continuity. This strategy also enabled access centers to recruit talent across time zones, expanding capacity while reducing workforce strain.
However, Griffin emphasized that successful global hiring requires careful coordination with HR, legal, and compliance teams. Hiring expansion must be intentional, supported by infrastructure that ensures both regulatory compliance and a positive employee experience.
Retention, she stressed, begins early. Engagement at 30, 60, and 90 days helps employees feel connected and supported, improving long-term workforce stability. “Retention has to be designed,” Griffin said. “Hiring is the starting point, but structure and connection drive long-term success.”
Maintaining Connection in a Distributed Workforce
Deborah Sather, MBA, Director of Contact Center Operations at Baylor Scott & White Health, addressed one of the defining shifts in access center management: the rapid expansion of remote work. With over 700 scheduling staff supporting more than 550,000 calls per month, the majority of whom work remotely, engagement has become a strategic priority, not simply a cultural aspiration.
As remote staffing becomes standard practice, leaders must intentionally foster engagement, communication, and accountability. Sather emphasized that remote workforce models offer powerful advantages, including expanded recruitment opportunities and increased operational flexibility. However, sustaining performance requires structured leadership engagement and consistent communication.
Sather emphasized that meaningful engagement requires more than surface-level initiatives. “Real engagement isn’t just parties,” she explained. “It’s that emotional commitment and enthusiasm we all feel for our work, our team, and our organization, driving all of us to contribute beyond just the basic requirements for success.”
Conference participants were particularly interested in how remote work affects turnover, quality, and operational performance. The discussion reinforced that remote access centers can perform at high levels when supported by strong training, leadership presence, and clear operational expectations.
Human-Centered AI: Enhancing Access Without Compromising Trust
Denise Davis, MBA, Program Director of Operations & Digital Solutions at Johns Hopkins Medicine, presented a thoughtful, human-centered approach to artificial intelligence (AI) implementation.
Rather than deploying AI broadly all at once, Johns Hopkins began by introducing AI tools designed to support access center agents directly. These tools assisted with appointment confirmations, rescheduling, and patient inquiries, improving efficiency while preserving the human role at the center of care.
Davis emphasized that successful AI implementation begins with workforce trust. “Why agents first?” Davis explained. “Reduce cognitive load. Build trust in AI tools. Create consistency before scaling automation.”
This phased approach allowed Johns Hopkins Medicine to improve operational efficiency while ensuring that artificial intelligence enhances, rather than disrupts, both employee and patient experiences.
Improving Clinical Navigation Through Structured Call Handling
Scott Teplin, MSN, RN, AMB-BC, CEN, Clinical Services Manager at UCLA Health’s Patient Access Organization, and Krista Thompson, BSN, RN, Director of Sales and Clinical Education at ClearTriage, addressed the critical role access centers play in clinical navigation and patient safety. Their session highlighted how symptom-based call handling represents a pivotal intersection between operational access and clinical care.
Their presentation demonstrated how standardized screening workflows and decision support tools for access center staff improve consistency, reduce variability, and enhance clinical routing accuracy. Structured symptom-based call handling improves resolution rates while ensuring patients reach appropriate care pathways quickly and safely.
They demonstrated a tool that allows access center staff to identify symptoms more accurately, improve routing decisions, and reduce variability in patient routing. Together, their work demonstrates how access centers are increasingly progressing not just administrative functions, but essential clinical coordination roles.
Access Centers at a Strategic Inflection Point
Access centers are no longer simply managing calls. They are actively shaping workforce stability, operational efficiency, and patient outcomes. Every hiring decision, every quality metric, and every technology deployment in the ambulatory access ecosystem ultimately shapes how patients enter the healthcare system.
The future of access is not theoretical. It is being built today by leaders across the Collaborative’s community.
Click here to explore and register for our Access Center Management Certification Program (CAACM), designed for professionals who are active in the field of ambulatory access center management - or those who may be interested in a role in the field.