Let's refuse the status quo

FU1-1Figure

We've all heard the adage, “Change is the one constant in healthcare.” Although human nature is to resist change, when I think about how true this maxim rings to my experience as a PA (especially since the pandemic), I am filled with hope for the future.

Change in medicine goes hand in hand with innovation, and it is clear that innovation is needed in every aspect of healthcare delivery today. When healthcare systems and medical providers hold on to tradition because it is easier to keep managing healthcare the way it has always been managed, patients are left behind.

One of the many lessons learned from the pandemic is that we cannot be afraid to do things differently to give healthcare teams the flexibility and capacity they need to meet patient demands. The pandemic wiped the slate clean and gave us an opportunity to innovate and to deliver patient care in new and more efficient ways.

Thinking back to my own experience at the start of COVID-19 as director of advanced practice providers at Rush University Medical Center, we had no choice but to adapt and innovate. We created teams of highly qualified clinicians, all with different expertise, skillsets, and abilities, to deliver care when and where patients needed it most, whether in the ED, ICU, or OR. PAs were a critical component of each of these teams that flexed to meet the immediate crisis head-on.

Although healthcare teams like mine were creating solutions at hospitals and in other settings, telehealth also evolved as an innovative method of meeting patient needs during the pandemic. As a result, healthcare delivery was made more efficient. What we discovered during this time is that patients are looking for leadership and innovation to meet them where they are in their health journeys.

In June 2020, the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) released an overview of a PA survey (www.aapa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/June-2020-Telemedicine-DataBrief-Rev.pdf) that found three in four PAs used telemedicine for the first time during the pandemic and that 64% of PAs were continuing to use telemedicine at the time of the survey. Fast-forwarding to 2022, we learned from the annual AAPA salary report that 61% of PAs report continuing to use telehealth or telemedicine services.

PAs have an opportunity and a responsibility to push for the continued expansion of virtual healthcare at the practice level while our country also works to address barriers to virtual care that many patients face—lack of access to technology and high-speed internet being at the top of the list. PAs must also continue to aggressively advocate for updates to state laws that can limit our ability to practice in virtual healthcare.

I don't ever want to lose sight of one of the main things learned from the COVID-19 pandemic—that returning to the status quo healthcare delivery model is a disservice to patients and to PAs as well. We demonstrated what we can do when the handcuffs of supervisory agreements are removed, and we are allowed to practice to the full extent of our education, training, and experience. Why would we ever go back? Let's refuse the status quo. Let's disrupt healthcare.

Yes, revolutionizing healthcare will take time; we can't just flip the switch. We must give ourselves the time and space to ideate, to take risks, and to fail—all with the intention of better serving our patients...all of them. We must look to the future to ensure we are embracing and using the latest in technology, research, and innovation to build a healthcare system that will lead to better patient outcomes and equitable access to care for all.

Recognizing that together, PAs can spark change and build a better future for our patients, I challenge each and every one of you to think big, to innovate, to disrupt the status quo.

And I hope you will join us at the Future of Healthcare panel during AAPA 2023 to participate in one such opportunity to ideate. AAPA will unveil new data from a nationally commissioned survey, portraying the experiences and expectations of patients, while we explore the role of emerging technologies and innovations in redefining healthcare. See you in Nashville!

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