At Sunnyvale's Camino Medical Group, a new program called Advanced Access is drastically cutting the time it takes for patients to see physicians and almost guaranteeing patients will be able to see their own physician, on their own schedule.

To accomplish this change, the traditional method of taking care of patients has been overhauled. Dr. Philip Brosterhous, medical director at CMG and a family physician for 24 years in the area, said the old model was based on physicians seeing 10 to 12 patients a day, which is no longer a realistic figure. Many at Camino see 20 to 30 each day, and by changing everyone's mindsets to acknowledge this, they have been able to cut down the waiting period for patients.

In April, when the program began, Nina Quintal, registered nurse and project manager for Advanced Access, said the first step many physicians took was to work extra hours or days each week to reduce the backlog of patients. After the backlog was eliminated, working daily to better serve and schedule patients has helped physicians prevent their patient load—informally called their "basket"—from overflowing. By encouraging doctors to take extra steps to see more patients each day, the group has been able to keep from getting swamped with waiting patients.

"They worked really hard to get their backlog down, so now they're seeing a lot more of their own patients," Quintal said.

Brosterhous said that with this new efficiency comes the benefits of easier access to health care and increased physician involvement in patient relationships.

"Obviously it is not only satisfying for the patients, but it makes the staff happier, because they're not stuck in the middle, and the physician is happier because they get to see their own patients and form relationships with them," Brosterhous said.

For the last eight months, the medical group has been working closely with physicians and staff in their offices to streamline appointments and predict patient needs to better serve their community.

Quintal said there has also been a change in how many appointments of each kind are scheduled each day. For example, traditional practices limited the number of physical exams given each day to three, leaving out any additional patients who wanted physicals. With each day filling up the given slots quickly, a backlog of waiting patients was created, further extending wait periods.

To better schedule appointments, when a patient calls in, personnel help them schedule the best, most convenient appointment for all involved.

Robert Crenshaw, 75, said when he scheduled a physical, the staff worked with him to find a day about two weeks later that met the scheduling needs of the physician, as well as ensuring that the appointment fell more than a year after his last physical, so it was covered by insurance.

At the physical, a small growth was found on his ear, and the physician told him to make an appointment with a dermatologist. With a more urgent appointment, Crenshaw was able to make an appointment on Wednesday and have the growth—which turned out to be cancerous—taken out by Friday.

Crenshaw said this turnaround is a drastic change from the past.

"Regardless of the situation, you used to be looking at a week, maybe two weeks before you could get in to see someone," he said.

By working more closely with patients to schedule appointments, Quintal said the staff is able to keep high-demand days like Mondays free for urgent appointments, and space out noncritical treatments to prevent a buildup on any given day.

Also, by making sure patients see their own physicians, less time is taken because there is no need to get to know new patients. Quintal said that at times, 10 minutes of a 15-minute appointment were taken just bringing a new physician up to speed on a patient's needs.

"I've been seeing my doctor for several years now, and it's great in that she knows me and we can talk about things that have been ongoing," Crenshaw said.

The current goal of the group is to have all aspects of treatment, including specialists, eliminate waiting time for patients.

Currently, the average wait for an appointment has been reduced by 70 percent. Brosterhous said 90 percent of pediatricians and 50 percent of specialists in the group are able to see patients at the patient's requested time.

For information residents can call Patient Resources at 408.730.4357.