Looking Beyond Headcount: Rethinking Access, Workflows, and Telehealth with Drs. Pamela Ograbisz and Jamie Threatt

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams has a conversation with Dr. Pamela Ograbisz, vice president of clinical operations at LocumTenens.com, and Dr. Jamie Threatt, telehealth program director at LocumTenens.com, about the root causes of patient access challenges, optimizing advanced practice providers (APPs), reducing clinician burnout, and the role telehealth can play in expanding capacity. Rather than defaulting to recruitment when wait times grow, they explore how healthcare leaders can uncover workflow bottlenecks, redesign care delivery models, and better align resources to improve both patient and clinician experiences.

Episode Takeaways

• Many patient access problems originate upstream from the clinician schedule. Intake processes, referral pathways, message routing, and screening workflows often create delays long before a provider shortage becomes apparent.
• APPs have become a standard part of healthcare delivery, but many organizations still have opportunities to use physician-APP teams more strategically to expand access in high-demand specialties.
• Healthcare leaders should carefully examine task ownership. Intake screening, message triage, and certain follow-up activities may not require physician involvement and can often be handled by nurses, APPs, telehealth staff, or technology-enabled workflows.
• Reviewing patient flow helps reveal hidden barriers. Delays related to referrals, imaging, communication handoffs, and scheduling can significantly affect access and productivity across a service line.
• Successful operational redesign depends on engaging the people doing the work. Physicians, APPs, nurses, technical staff, support employees, and patients each bring valuable perspectives on workflow challenges.
• There is no universal blueprint for operational improvement. Every organization has unique patient populations, staffing models, referral patterns, and processes that require customized solutions.
• Workflow inefficiencies contribute directly to clinician burnout. Administrative burdens, fragmented communication, and poorly designed processes often increase workload and reduce time available for patient care.
• Telehealth remains an underutilized opportunity in many organizations. Service lines with long wait times, hard-to-fill positions, or ongoing turnover may benefit from virtual care models that improve access while supporting patients with transportation, mobility, or caregiver limitations.
• When a service line struggles, leaders should begin by listening. Quantitative metrics are important, but clinicians and frontline staff often have the clearest understanding of what is actually broken within a workflow.

Resources

• Connect with Dr. Pamela Ograbisz on LinkedIn
• Connect with Dr. Jamie Threatt on LinkedIn
• LocumTenens.com
• LT Telehealth
• MGMA Podcasts
• Productivity and Burnout article

Email us at dwilliams@mgma.com if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to advisor@mgma.com. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!