Stanford Opens Several One-Stop Patient Care Hubs 

Throughout the medical campus and into surrounding communities, Stanford Health Care is opening up patient care hubs, integrating related services under one roof to help patients manage the complexity of care and deliver comprehensive services in one setting.

"We are really trying to bring together a comprehensive set of services and ancillary support services, to give patients a one-stop shop," says James Hereford, chief operating officer. "This idea of coordinated, complex care is one of the key themes in our strategic plan, so that ability to aggregate and organize these services around a specific aspect of care is a way of addressing the inherent level of complexity of the care we deliver and making it as manageable and straight forward as possible for our patients."

With more generalized services, the burden of coordinating care falls unduly on the patient, says Hereford. "We are trying to organize a lot of the complexity that our patients would otherwise experience." When we're more focused around specific services and programs, it's easier to anticipate patients' needs, coordinate their care and tailor services to them, he adds.

The Stanford Cancer Center, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, was one of the earliest examples of this concept. This year and next, Stanford is opening a number of targeted patient-centric clinics, starting with the Stanford Ear Institute, which opened this summer.

Stanford Ear Institute

Sharing a building with the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford, the Stanford Ear Institute houses all the physicians, audiologists, hearing device and rehabilitation specialists who have been widely dispersed all over campus into one integrative place. This comprehensive center integrates adult and pediatric hearing and balance specialties under one roof in a new off campus location.

"The SEI is a joint effort on the part of the adult and children's hospitals to bring together all hearing and balance health care into a single setting," says Robert Jackler, MD, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor and Chair of Otorhinolaryngology. "The idea is to create a smoothly integrated pathway for patients to receive all services in one location."

The Stanford Ear Institute manages the full spectrum of medical and surgical disorders of the ear and its related structures—from ear infections and tinnitus to vertigo/balance problems and profound hearing loss. "It's a soup to nuts integrated center," he adds. "The convenience for patients will be greatly improved." In addition to adult and pediatric exam and audiology rooms, the site includes a multidisciplinary balance program that offers sophisticated balance testing, along with physical therapy and rehabilitation; and a cochlear implant center for evaluation, device placement and training for patients with hearing loss.

Advanced Wound Care Center

In October, Stanford is opening the Advanced Wound Care Center at its Redwood City Outpatient Center, providing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to optimal chronic wound care, with an emphasis on limb preservation for patients at risk for limb loss. In addition to the use of well-established treatment modalities, the Advanced Wound Care Center will have access to cutting edge treatment technologies as well as two hyperbaric chambers for the treatment and management of complex wounds.

"Wound management is a multifactorial, multidisciplinary process," says Venita Chandra, MD, co-director of the Advanced Wound Care Center, and clinical assistant professor of vascular surgery. Led by experts in vascular and plastic surgery, the Center coordinates care with other Stanford specialists in infectious disease, orthopedics, podiatry, radiology, endocrinology, cardiology, nursing, physical therapy, nutrition and social work.

"Being able to do that under one roof is more convenient for the patient and streamlines their care," says Subhro Sen, MD, co-director of the Advanced Wound Care Center and clinical assistant professor of plastic surgery. "Our goal is to provide a one-stop-shop type of care."

On the horizon

In 2015, two major, new patient centers are scheduled to open – the South Bay Cancer Center and the Neurosciences Outpatient Clinic. Next summer, Stanford Health Care is extending its coordinated cancer care to the South Bay where it will open a new four-story, 70,000 square foot outpatient cancer center. Located in San Jose off Hwy 85, the site will include oncology clinics, support services, imaging services, radiation therapy, an infusion center, two operating rooms, pharmacy, lab, family resource center and a café.

"When it opens, this new outpatient center will offer patients coordinated medical services which are integrated with those they could receive by traveling to the Stanford campus, all in one convenient South Bay setting," says Douglas Blayney, MD, medical director of the Stanford Cancer Center.

Also in late 2015, Stanford is set to open the 92,000 square foot Neurosciences Outpatient Clinic, which will bring together 21 subspecialties under one roof, facilitate coordinated visits and provide multidisciplinary, patient-centered care. The center will also house laboratory services, imaging, balance/gait lab, autonomic lab, movement disorders clinic, pre-op clinic, neuro rehab and an infusion treatment area.

"The neuroscience building will integrate neurology, neurosurgery and interventional neuroradiology outpatient service along with specialized support services in a single location, creating a superior one stop destination experience for our patients," says Alison Kerr, executive director of the neuroscience service line at Stanford Health Care. "It's a comprehensive model that is not available anywhere else in the country."

One of the most significant aspects of the new building will be its central patient check-in and registration system, which will be consolidated into one stop on the ground floor. Patients with several appointments will receive a same day itinerary and be able to move from floor to floor without additional check-ins.

"Our neurology, neurosurgery and neuroscience clinical services currently are scattered around different parts of the hospital, so patients often need to check in multiple times and schedule multiple visits," says Kerr. "The new building puts patients in the center and focuses on making it simple, streamlines and logical to check in."