Accessing University Medical Associates (UMA) Services was the topic of the first Employee Roundtable sponsored Oct. 22 by Human Resources and Public Affairs.
John Russell, executive director of Human Resources, opened the discussion with an overview of the roundtable. He welcomed the group of employees from across the UNMC campus and the representatives from UMA leadership, UNMC clinical departments and NHS.
Jane Harris, director of UNMC Employee Relations, moderated the discussion which focused on some of the current challenges employees have experienced while making appointments and receiving care in UMA clinics and also the positive experiences they have had with the care received.
UMA leaders listen, field questions
Hearing employees’ concerns and suggestions were members of UMA leadership — Rod Markin, M.D., Ph.D., UMA president, Cory Shaw, chief administrative officer, and Robin Stoupa, director of Ambulatory Services — as well as department chairs or their representatives from internal medicine, family medicine, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, and Joe Graham, COO of Nebraska Health System.
UMA leadership and physicians fielded questions about patient confidentiality, timeliness of scheduling appointments, customer service, billing procedures and availability of employee incentives.
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John Russell of UNMC Human Resources. |
“We’d like to thank the employees who took time to share their concerns,” Dr. Markin said. “UMA is committed to better serving employees on campus and appreciate their honest feedback.”
Goal: To improve service
UMA physicians are interested in attracting more employees to UMA services and are reviewing comments and suggestions offered, Dr. Markin said. They are looking at how best to address some of the issues raised, particularly access to services in a timely way and customer service.
“We are also looking at ways we can better serve our employees in our system, offering them some additional conveniences because they work here on campus,” Dr. Markin said. One idea that has been suggested is to allow campus employees to be paged 10 minutes before the doctor will see them. Another is to assure employees that those who need to be seen for minor health problems will be worked into the system the day they call.
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Cory Shaw, chief administrative officer of UMA, left, and Rod Markin, M.D., Ph.D., UMA president. |
Improving communication
UMA needs to do a better job communicating what it has done to address the concerns raised by employees and to offer better service, Stoupa said. For example, the primary care clinic phones are answered 24 hours a day, by clinic staff or by NHS Medical Call Center staff, when the clinic is closed. The patient phone calls are staffed by nurses. If those nurses determine that a patient needs to see a primary care physician, they will set up an appointment for them the next day.
Often, employees are not aware that a new physician has joined UMA and is available to take new patients. While UNMC Today regularly carries information on new UMA health providers, that information may not be reaching everyone, they said.
UMA leaders said they would be developing information to share with employees on how to access services.
Future Employee Roundtables
Plans are underway for future Employee Roundtables, which will be held quarterly, Russell said. Employees who have suggestions about future topics should contact Harris at 559-5238 or by e-mail: jharris@unmc.edu.