AFSO 21: 95th MDG maps out better patient service

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class William A. O'Brien
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  In an effort to understand the decline in mammogram screenings over the past two years, the 95th Medical Group held an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century initiative to streamline the base's breast cancer screening process beginning Oct. 5.

AFSO 21 is a tool that enables problem solving and provides a means to eliminate waste. Through rapid improvement events, organizations assemble teams to systematically improve performance on essential tasks, which strengthen combat effectiveness.

"We recognized over the past two years a steady and consistent decline in breast cancer screenings," said Maj. Sherry Johnson, 95th MDG health care integrator. "There may be a variety of reasons for this. Mammograms are a service we do offer here, but Tricare also allows beneficiaries to get this done off base. We have seen some people here, but most people go off base or do not receive the service."

Because the clinic wasn't receiving consistent screening notification, the 95th MDG staff didn't know if patients were receiving the screenings when mammogram patients were self-referring to off-base providers, causing challenges in tracking their care and results. In addition to that, facilities off-base were not sending patient results to the Medical Group.

"When they do it off base, it takes a long time to get their results from their provider, and sometimes, we don't receive the results at all," said Major Johnson. "That impacts our metrics here because we measure how many of our patients are receiving their screenings, if we don't have the results here to validate they've truly had it."

During the AFSO 21 initiative, the 95th MDG identified how they could eliminate any duplication of work efforts, inaccurate patient data and standardized their policy with off-base care providers.

To address this issue, 95th MDG identified and contacted off-base facilities to develop and establish a relationship while coming to an agreement to track patient care.

As an incentive to patients, Club Muroc agreed to offer free lunch to patients who receive their mammogram in the clinic or inform clinic personnel when they have had a mammogram performed at an off-base facility.

Major Johnson said one of the reasons their numbers are declining is because of a lack of marketing.

"Right now, we have a mammogram technologist who can perform the examinations," she said. "Secondly, we plan on marketing all the services we have."

Far beyond this AFSO 21 initiative, it will be the responsibility of the clinic to ensure they maintain the records of their patients and they receive the proper care, according to the major.

"This is not something that has an end date," she said. "As long as we have a women's health practitioner, and as long as we have a mammography technologist, then we're going to continue to market these services. We're always going to need to maintain open lines of communication between our doctors and off-base providers who are seeing our patients."

Capt. Tracy Edwards, 95th MDG nurse practitioner, said these screenings and their results are important to the clinic because they could mean the difference between life and death.

"We use these screenings to identify women who are at risk for breast cancer," said Capt. Edwards. "So we can treat them early because it is a disease that has a long-term survival rate when it's caught in its early stages. If we fail to catch it in its early stages it can be lethal,"

Major Johnson said the clinic's primary concern isn't the statics themselves, but the people they take care of.

"We want to make sure the patients are taken care of," said Major Johnson. "If we can take care of the patients then our metrics will take care of themselves."

Happy with the outcome of the event, 95th MDG commander, Col. Janet Taylor, said she looks forward to her group remaining simply the best.

"It was a great rapid improvement event," said the colonel. "We always want to look at the quality of the care we provided to our beneficiaries. This team has really done an outstanding job making sure we look at some of the areas we can improve on. We look forward to continuing to be simply the best."