PAC's All Access Pass Podcast

Patient safety is often associated with what happens inside the exam room, operating room, or hospital bedside. But what if one of the greatest threats to patient safety occurs long before a patient ever receives care? In this thought-provoking episode of  All-Access Pass , Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Dr. Victor Hassid, Associate Vice President of Access Services and Professor of Plastic Sur...

Recorded live at the 2026 Patient Access Collaborative Symposium in Columbus, Ohio, this special episode of the All Access Pass Podcast brings listeners into the conversations shaping the future of patient access. From nurse triage and children’s access to AI, physician engagement, operational strategy, and patient experience, leaders from across the country reflect on the challenges, ideas, and i...

In this episode, we feature  The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center , host of the Patient Access Collaborative’s 2026 Symposium, as they share how they transformed access from fragmented visibility to enterprise accountability. By focusing on the behaviors that drive performance, aligning incentives, and evolving their access center, OSU has built a model that connects strategy to executi...

In healthcare, access to care ultimately comes down to one fundamental challenge: balancing supply and demand. In this episode of the Patient Access Collaborative podcast, Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock speaks with Chris Profeta, Senior Director of Research and Analytics, about the emergence of ambulatory capacity management as a critical discipline within patient access. Together, they ref...

What if patient access isn’t just an operational problem—but a shared organizational belief system? In this episode of All Access Pass, host  Chris Profeta , Senior Director of Research and Analytics at the Patient Access Collaborative, sits down with  Austin Loomis MHA  , AVP of Ambulatory Access and Analytics,  Mandy Newman , MAAL, Vice President of Ambulatory Operations, and  Catherin Mims , MD...

Patient access is often measured by speed—but its true value runs much deeper. In this episode of The All-Access Pass, Elizabeth Woodcock, DrPH, MBA, is joined by Brett Butler, Vice President of Access Services at Baylor Scott & White Health, for a candid conversation about what it really takes to elevate access from a transactional function to a system-level strategy. Together, they explore h...

AI may automate the “what” of scheduling, but the “why” still belongs to humans. In this episode of All Access Pass, host  Elizabeth Woodcock  sits down with  Aramis Cherrington ,  Vice President of Patient Access at RWJBarnabas Health to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the work of access centers, shifting them from reactive call hubs to predictive, omni-channel orchestrators of t...

Waiting lists have long been treated as an unavoidable part of healthcare — a symptom of limited capacity. But Professor Katherine Harding believes otherwise. In this episode, she joins PAC founder Elizabeth Woodcock to unpack the STAT model, a research-backed approach developed in Australia that replaces backlogs with real-time scheduling and equitable flow. Harding shares insights from clinical...

Behind every oncology referral is a patient—and a family—waiting, hoping, and depending on the system to move fast. In this episode, host Dr. Elizabeth Woodcock, Executive Director of the Patient Access Collaborative, is joined by three oncology access leaders: Kristen Thatcher of The James at Ohio State University, Jennifer Kennedy-Stovall of Duke Cancer Institute, and Kate Healy-Levine of Memori...

Collaboration is the engine of innovation in healthcare access, and nowhere is that spirit stronger than at the upcoming  PAC Access Summit , a two-day event co-hosted by Emory Healthcare on October 13–14. In this episode of  All Access Pass , host Chris Profeta sits down with three Emory leaders who will be presenting at the Summit:  Kelsey Thomas, Director of Program Development in Patient Acces...

What does it take to lead patient access at scale—and with heart? In this inspiring episode, we celebrate the Patient Access Collaborative’s inaugural Access Leaders of the Year:  Jamie Kern, MBA , Senior Director of Access & Capacity Management at  The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center , and  Ann Blanchard, BSN, MBA , Director of Access Innovations, Capacity Management & Referra...

At the 2025 Patient Access Collaborative Symposium,  Stephanie Schmidt, MS, Senior Director of Ambulatory Operations,  and  Adam Stone, MS, Director of Clinical Data & Analytics  of Oregon Health & Science University led a high-impact workshop on building a culture of data fluency and accountability in access operations. As leaders in both operations and analytics, Stephanie and Adam share...

Join us for a dynamic conversation with two powerhouse leaders in patient access:  Alexandra Blake Martinez, MHSA , Associate Vice President of Access Strategic Operations at  MD Anderson Cancer Center , and  Tesha Montgomery, BSN, MHA , Senior Vice President of Access at  Houston Methodist . Speaking from their shared hometown of  Houston , the site of the 2025 Patient Access Collaborative Sympos...

How many patients are too many? In this episode, Dr. Kevin Shah, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Primary Care at Duke University Health joins us to unpack the complex science—and art—of managing patient panels.

Joy of Practice is the beating heart of healthcare. It represents the very reason our clinicians practice medicine in the first place, underscoring the fundamental purpose behind their care delivery. Despite their passion for patients, clinician burnout is threatening to destabilize the entire supply of the already-burdened healthcare industry. In this month’s inspiring episode, we explore why cli...

Our leaders know that patient access is a fundamental pillar of healthcare, but until now, there has been no standardized definition or framework to guide access leaders. This begs the question - what could our community of experts create if they came together to define the key elements of patient access management? This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock, DrPH, MBA; Senior D...

Wildfires have ravaged South California in recent months, forcing health system leaders to navigate patient access disruptions while ensuring continuity of care. Beyond the immediate crisis, these disasters create lasting "access debt"—a backlog of delayed appointments and unmet patient needs that can overwhelm health systems long after the flames have died down. How can access leaders p...

​​Our patients hail from every corner of the Earth, and differences in the languages we speak can become a serious barrier to effective care. But what happens when the data doesn't tell the story we expect? This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Stephanie Schmidt, MS , Senior Director of Ambulatory Care and Access Services at Oregon Health & Science Un...

Leading health systems all face the same problem: how can we maximize clinician efficiency while ensuring patients receive timely care? This month, the podcast features two distinguished leaders from Geisinger Health; special guest host Patrick Kokoruda, MHA, CCSL , Vice President of Clinical Access Management sits down for an episode with George Ruiz, MD , Chair of Cardiology. Together, they expl...

Reliability is foundational to creating trust with our patients - and effective change management provides the tools we need to achieve it. In this episode, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Dominic King, DO, FAOASM, FAMIA , Enterprise Medical Director of Access Transformation and High Reliability Coach at Cleveland Clinic, and Jalana McCasland, FACHE, DSL , Vice Pre...

Despite our best efforts, non-attendance remains one of the most persistent and damaging challenges for access leaders. In this episode, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock is joined by non-attendance experts Allison Gornik, PhD , Licensed Clinical Psychologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and Lorna Kernizan, FACHE, MBA , Chief Ambulatory Officer at Children's Mississippi. T...

Behavioral science underlies each of the important decisions we make – and the complex world of patient access is no exception. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Clara Doan , Senior Director of Patient Access at UMass Memorial Healthcare, and Chris Profeta , MPH , Senior Director of Research at the Patient Access Collaborative. Our panel of experts explor...

Mayo Clinic's Innovation Contact Center is where new tools, technologies, and workflows are tested to refine patient access initiatives. Join us as Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock hosts esteemed guests Elissa Nelson, MA , Senior Director, Systems Transformation, Enterprise Office of Access Management Infrastructure Services, Mayo Clinic, and Courtnie Garteski Bergler , Direct...

The role of the access medical director is rapidly emerging as leaders across the country redefine how health systems approach patient access. This month, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with three innovative leaders: Brian Crum, MD , Access Medical Director, Associate Professor of Neurology, Mayo Clinic; Bryan Tsao, MD , Access Medical Director, Vice President of Acces...

The Patient Access Collaborative had the honor of working with our friends and esteemed colleagues at Emory Healthcare to host this year’s PAC Symposium in our home city of Atlanta. In review, Founder and Executive Director Elizabeth Woodcock sits down with Emory’s own Sarah Kier , Senior Vice President of Enterprise Patient Access at Emory Healthcare, to reflect on the Symposium’s highlights. Tog...