Cancer programs face a dual challenge: rising patient volumes and mounting financial pressure. During a recent webinar hosted by Becker’s Healthcare and LeanTaaS, leaders from Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health and Lake Success, N.Y.-based Northwell Health Cancer Institute detailed how their organizations scaled infusion operations across multiple sites without sacrificing efficiency or patient experience. Katie Lassiter, […] The post Inside UVA, Northwell’s playbook to cut infusion wait times in half & improve operations appeared first on Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
Cancer programs face a dual challenge: rising patient volumes and mounting financial pressure. During a recent webinar hosted by Becker’s Healthcare and LeanTaaS, leaders from Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health and Lake Success, N.Y.-based Northwell Health Cancer Institute detailed how their organizations scaled infusion operations across multiple sites without sacrificing efficiency or patient experience.
Katie Lassiter, BSN, RN, OCN, director of clinical operations – infusion for the UVA Cancer Service Line and Maggie Miller, director of operations at Northwell Health Cancer Institute, shared actionable strategies for securing investment, engaging staff and sustaining long-term return on investment. This work led to a dramatic drop in infusion wait times — a 62% drop for UVA patients and a 50% drop at Northwell.
Here are four key takeaways from the conversation:
Aligning investments with patient access
At UVA Health, a surge in non-oncology infusion demand prompted an expansion that added 40 new chairs at a cancer-specific site. While increasing capacity, leadership also prioritized access improvements. They designated chairs for non-oncology patients and created infusion nurse coordinator roles to reduce care barriers.
These positions were designed to provide high-touch service embedded within regular infusion operations. Coordinators work directly with non-cancer services to understand patients’ barriers, contact patients before their infusions and ensure clarity around the care they’ll receive.
“We want to set them up for success on day one of infusion,” said Ms. Lassiter. “The overall goal is to reduce the number of patients who are being referred by our providers outside of our system to reduce that barrier to care to take care of our patients.”
This approach led to nearly a 50% reduction in time to treatment — from 38 days to 20 days — for patients receiving infusion care.
The importance of quantifiable outcomes
Northwell Health uses LeanTaaS’ iQueue for Infusion Centers across seven infusion centers to monitor throughput and efficiency. Ms. Miller said the platform fosters a culture of systemness across the organization, and shared metrics from iQueue allow teams to quickly identify and resolve issues already addressed at other locations.
“We don’t have to totally recreate the wheel,” Ms. Miller said. “Where systemness helps is that our centers are really great about leveraging the expertise that exists within our own institute.”
At UVA Health, systemness helped solve scheduling challenges by enabling nurses to follow an evidence-based, interdisciplinary standard for patient regimens. The model gives schedulers visibility into site-specific practices while maintaining a standardized approach.
“We’ve documented those, understood why they are the way they are, and given them the tools and ability to schedule patients across our system,” Ms. Lassiter said. “I don’t think we could do that effectively without iQueue because that is what we are training our schedulers to use as they’re selecting the right appointments for patients.”
Better data, better outcomes
At UVA Health, comparative metrics from iQueue are essential for guiding improvements across infusion sites. Ms. Lassiter said the data helps site managers identify and act on local challenges while also benchmarking UVA’s performance against peers.
“We recognize that patients have a choice, and we want to provide a competitive experience,” she said. “That’s everything from how we are utilizing our resources to give care to patients, but also the experience they have when they’re with us.”
iQueue data helped UVA reduce wait times at its largest infusion center from around 40 minutes to 15 minutes in October 2024, according to Ms. Lassiter. Across over 800 nationwide infusion centers, iQueue lowers patient wait times by an average of 30% while helping organizations increase patient volume by 15%.
At Northwell Health, iQueue insights informed workflow redesigns that improved flow for injection patients, who often require shorter visits but were experiencing long waits.
“We have been able to use iQueue to hold volume, throughput and that experience for those patients steady throughout the day,” Ms. Miller said. “We’re ramping down just about as we’re ready to close for the day.”
Continuous improvement
Both leaders stressed the need for ongoing evaluation to sustain value. Ms. Miller noted that Northwell was able to improve throughput without adding chairs by optimizing scheduling based on iQueue insights.
Ms. Lassiter added that UVA grew infusion volumes by 17% over three years without expanding its physical footprint.
Both leaders advised grounding the case for investment in clear, measurable results and ensuring frontline staff understand both the rationale and expected benefits.
“Being able to have resources and tools to see that shift in our own organization and then be able to meet that need quickly was essential,” Ms. Lassiter said. “It’s not just about the data, but also how we’re utilizing the tool behind it that has helped us to appreciate the value that we have.”
The post Inside UVA, Northwell’s playbook to cut infusion wait times in half & improve operations appeared first on Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
