1. < Message from the Chair

This week is a special edition of “Reflections from the Chair” as I have invited our regional ambulatory medical directors to share with us the latest news from the practices that they oversee. Representing a broad swath of Southern California, each story reflects how we are all working together to advance our strategic plan and achieve our vision to lead in innovation, transform care, advance health for all.

Read these inspiring highlights below to learn how your colleagues are making a difference in the lives of their patients and the communities we serve.

First up…

The Northeast Region has been a center of activity and growth, led by a strong administrative team that includes four Clinical Directors, Michelle Betwarda, Lorena Douille, Irene Solis, and Kellie Tartabull. They share the following updates:

Meeting the Needs of the Patients in Our Community

Bringing world-class health care into local communities is a central goal of UCLA Health. Our success in this effort has created a great demand for the services that we offer, resulting in some challenges for patient access that are being addressed on many levels within the organization.

To improve patient access in the northeast region, we have worked to optimize existing offices by remodeling existing space and adding telehealth blocks to PCP schedules. These schedule changes have provided space for additional physicians while offering an important service to our patients and created room for one additional nephrologist and eight new PCPs. Many of these positions have already been filled.

Expanding services through optimal space utilization has also been a major focus. These efforts have resulted in additional echocardiography/stress echocardiography testing in five locations, as well as retinal cameras for annual diabetic retinal screening and pulmonary function testing in several other sites. The addition of plethysmography to standard pulmonary function testing in some locations provides a more complete evaluation, and is a great example of how we are striving to bring comprehensive care into the local communities so that our patients don't have to travel long distances to get the care that they need. 

Our physicians have also been working hard to meet the needs of our patients by offering specialized services, including gender health, addiction medicine, care for patients with sickle cell anemia, obesity management, pain management and dietary services for gastroenterology, and care for patients with Long COVID. Improving care delivery also includes continuous quality improvement, such as an effort to increase repeat blood pressure readings when the initial measurements are elevated. Working with Ambulatory Nursing, many offices have improved to over 80%-90% compliance, with one office increasing repeat blood pressure readings by 65%. The offices have also achieved very high rates of metrics that assess patient-centered care, such as the routine offering of chaperones to patients and other quality measures. The northeast region is also proud to be working with the Office of Ambulatory Excellence to further improve workflows and space utilization, and to have participated in the highly successful Primary Care Social Work pilot, which has now expanded throughout the network. In an effort to make care more accessible to patients who have difficulty taking time on weekdays to see a physician, three offices, in Burbank, Encino, and Santa Clarita, offer Saturday clinic hours.

 Physician recognition

In addition to providing excellent care, our physicians are very active in local communities and in education. Some examples include:

Our physicians contribute to the local communities in many ways, participating in Chambers of Commerce meetings, school boards, and collegiate activities. In addition, many of our physicians give lectures to local organizations. Since the beginning of the year, lectures have or are scheduled to be given by Drs. James S. Lee, Rena D. Callahan, Sam A. Kashani, Nimit Sudan, Ami Phillip, Megha Agarwal, Michael A. Polisky, Brendan M. Riley, Ramandeep Bains, Levon Mesropyan, and Evangelia K. Kirimis.

Primary Care in Pasadena Celebrating Its First Anniversary

Opening a new primary care office in Pasadena was no simple matter. With great support from our Pasadena hematology-oncology colleagues, the UCLA Primary Care office in Pasadena opened on 4/3/23, and currently has three primary care physicians. Through the very capable organizational skills and guidance of the Office Manager Fabrizio Zambrano, Regional Clinical Director Lorena Douille, and in collaboration with many functions within the department of medicine (DoM) and Health System, including Risk and Safety and Ambulatory Nursing, the office has thrived from the outset. A recent patient satisfaction survey tells the story best, with the following ratings:

1. 94.7 on “Using any number from 0 to 10, what number would you use to rate this doctor?”
2. 96.6 on “Would you recommend this doctor to your family and friends?”
3. 99.3 on “Quality of the Doctor Patient Interaction”
4. 95.9 on “Courteous and Helpful Office Staff.”

Preliminary expansion plans in Pasadena include the addition of at least 14 new physicians in primary care and medical subspecialties in 2025-6. Below is an article from when the clinic opened in 2023.

Next…

The Northwest and Central Coast region is also actively involved in strengthening the presence of UCLA Health in the community. They celebrate a special community recognition in addition to the acquisition of the UCLA West Valley Hospital in their update:

UCLA Health has been selected as Business of the Year by the Greater Conejo Chamber of Commerce. This includes recognition for ALL UCLA Health entities in Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, and Agoura Hills. All UCLA employees who work in these 3 cities are being honored and recognized with this award. There will be a Recognition Gala the evening of May 17th at Walnut Grove in the Tierra Rejada Ranch in Moorpark, CA.

On 2/26/24, UCLA Health hosted a medical staff celebration at Casaléna in Woodland Hills to welcome and usher in the staff and physicians at the newly renamed UCLA West Valley Medical Center. UCLA Health has acquired the 260-bed West Hills Hospital and Medical Center from HCA Healthcare, Inc. This transaction, which was finalized on March 28, is another step forward in addressing our inpatient hospital capacity needs, allowing us to serve more patients and broaden access to the world-class care provided by UCLA Health.

111 East Victoria Street opened for business on 1/29/24 (third floor Santa Barbara Cancer Care) and 2/20/24 (second floor Santa Barbara Primary & Specialty Care). The Victoria Street Mission-style building is located just off State Street in downtown Santa Barbara and offers free on-site parking.

Now we head south…

The South Region celebrates outstanding faculty in the region who are at the forefront of improving access to specialties in their update:

KimNgan P. Nguyen, MD, MPH and Jason A. Hove, MD have emerged as pivotal figures in addressing the pressing clinical/procedural needs of South Bay patients. Recognizing the prolonged wait times for essential procedures across specialties like dermatology, orthopedics, and gynecology in the region, they've implemented scheduling strategies to enhance patient access and streamline care delivery. Leveraging visit-type blocks and procedure clinics, they've arranged their schedules to accommodate high-demand procedures with limited accessibility. In dermatology, their repertoire includes a range of crucial interventions such as epidermal inclusion cyst removal, lipoma excisions, biopsies, skin tag removals, and wart cryotherapy, alongside suture and staple removals, and partial toenail avulsions.

Addressing orthopedic concerns, they offer expedited services encompassing trigger point injections, greater trochanteric bursitis treatments, shoulder and knee corticosteroid injections, and trigger finger interventions, significantly reducing wait times for patients. In gynecology, they administer essential family planning services including IUD and Nexplanon placement and removal. By creating avenues for these critical interventions, Drs. Nguyen and Hove have not only improved the timeliness of care delivery but have also elevated the patient experience while facilitating seamless collaboration between healthcare providers.

Closer to home…

In the west side, we continue to celebrate access to care with the expansion of services that will meet our patient’s needs. Here is the latest from Santa Monica:

The Santa Monica region continues to be a cornerstone of UCLA Health, serving a substantial number of patients with a focus on robust primary care and specialized services. A primary challenge has been ensuring ongoing access to care for our patients. All of our physicians work tirelessly to see patients and I want to shout out our everyday heroes. Patient feedback continues to commend the exceptional care provided by our physicians. Behind the scenes, Clinical Director Joe Brown has been working hard to ensure space for all of our programs, as well as to maximize their use. You may have seen us touring the various sites with Drs. Curls, Wang, and Abel, and their administrative team to make sure that a more systems level approach aimed at providing comprehensive care to our patients is a top priority.

In our region, we serve as a main referral site for our hospitalized patients to obtain follow-up care. Thus, we work closely with our hospitalists and Clinical Director for Hospitalist and Inpatient Services Jeri Robertson to facilitate seamless care for our patients post-hospital discharge. She has helped us identify some targeted areas for improvement, which has informed our access working groups. Our Clinical Chiefs and many faculty have been coming up with innovative ideas to tackle this pressing issue.

Demand for primary care physicians remains high, with ongoing recruitment to fill positions. This past year for primary care in Santa Monica we welcomed Shirin Poustchi, MD and Vanessa Olvera, MD to the region, and soon we will be welcoming Alexandra Zindman, Sarah Takimoto, and the return of Jeff Fujimoto. We welcomed multiple subspecialists as well. Meet the subspecialists HERE.

One theme that has been reiterated by our subspecialist colleagues is that if they can partner more closely with the PCPs to stratify referrals so that the right patient gets seen by the right provider at the right time, this may help with some of the access issues. As such, several decision support trees are being created, and other exciting ideas are being discussed. One such innovative idea is from our East West colleagues, led by Edward K. Hui, MD who are launching a CME course on the EWM approach to pain that they hope provides valuable education and resources to our healthcare professionals (don't worry, as a PCP, you are probably wondering where is the time going to come for that, so we are definitely thinking about that too!). Additionally in GI, Dr. Kareem Sassi's efforts to streamline post-hospital discharge appointments for GI patients has been remarkable. Collaborating with the hospitalist team and Jeri's team, significant improvements have been achieved in how these patients are scheduled, ensuring better continuity of care.

In the realm of clinical nutrition, their services will soon be centralized in Santa Monica, in a dedicated space, hopefully providing easier access for our patients. Congratulations to the UCLA Center of Human Nutrition as it just celebrated its 30th anniversary on April 13th, marked by the "Personalized Nutrition in Primary Care 2024" CME course at Luskin Conference Center.

Amidst these activities, are all the people, including our dedicated primary care doctors, specialists, and staff, who work tirelessly to care for our patients. We thank everyone for their hard work. These developments underscore our unwavering commitment to providing personalized, high-quality care to our patients in the Santa Monica region.

At home base…

Last but not least, we shine the spotlight on Westwood where we celebrate increase to access through collaboration with colleagues in the health system, in addition to the growth of our programs. See their update below:

Dr. Annie Wang Collaborates with the Department of Urology to Expand and Improve Access for Women’s Urinary Incontinence Care Across UCLA Health

Dr. Michael Yashar Expands Outpatient Capabilities at the Westwood Immediate Care-Evaluation and Treatment Center & Develops Peer Education to Boost Skills of Immediate Care Clinicians in the DoM

UCLA Center for Human Nutrition Celebrates 30th Anniversary

The UCLA Center of Human Nutrition celebrated its 30th anniversary on April 13th, hosting the “Personalized Nutrition in Primary Care 2024” CME course at the Luskin Conference Center. Over 100+ distinguished leaders, colleagues, supporters and friends gathered at the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Center afterwards to celebrate the Center’s 30th anniversary and honor the two co-founders David Heber, MD and Vay Liang Go, MD.

Under the leadership of Chief Zhaoping Li, MD, PhD and Division Clinical Chief Vijaya Surampudi, MD clinical services have expanded to include support for complex patients receiving chronic total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and enteral nutrition (tube feeds) as well as increased capacity for clinical nutrition consultation for primary care and subspecialty patient referrals. Clinical Nutrition services will expand in 2024-2025, with plans to recruit additional faculty, and to expand to a new dedicated clinical site in Santa Monica at the 1304 15th Street site.

The evening speakers included Wally Adeyemo (U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury), Johnese Spisso (President, UCLA Health/CEO, UCLA Hospital System), Steven Dubinett (Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA), Gregory Brent (Senior Executive Vice Chair, Department of Medicine), Vijaya Surampudi (Clinical Chief of UCLA Health Clinical Nutrition), Keith Norris (Distinguished Professor of Medicine at UCLA), Janet Pregler (Iris Cantor Endowed Chair in Women’s Health/Director, Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center), Wendelin Slusser (Associate Vice Provost, Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA) and Karol Watson (Director, Barbra Streisand-UCLA Women’s Heart Health Program) sharing their vision and insights on the future of precision nutrition.

Established in 1994 by Dr. Heber and Dr. Go, the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA currently provides services in patient care, research, education and community health through its dedicated clinical staff and researchers. The Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA is 1 of the 14 clinical center enrollment sites nationwide of the NIH’s $170 million “All of Us” precision nutrition study.

Join me in recognizing our many clinicians and appreciating their efforts in bringing cutting edge UCLA Care throughout our communities.

For those who are celebrating Passover, that starts tonight:  Chag Pesach sameach! 

Dale

P.S. 

Dr. Ma mentioned that the DoM leadership recently toured our Santa Monica facility to visit with faculty and to scope out new space. A highlight of the visit was a surprise visit to the resident’s clinic.

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