April 4th – April 10th, 2021 is National Patient Access Awareness Week!
Established in 1982, Patient Access Week is a celebration of the people in Patient Access profession. The date marks the anniversary of the founding of the National Association of Healthcare Access Management (NAHAM), the only national, profession-al organization dedicated to promoting excellence within the field. WCH & Clinics recognizes the new patient access manager, Sarah Hernandez.
Sarah is the Patient Access Manager at Wickenburg Community Hospital and brings 20 years of knowledge and dedication to putting the patient first. Meeting the needs of the Community and providing excellent customer service has always been a passion of hers. Sarah’s most favorite aspect of Patient Access is showing compassion to patients in their time of uncertainty. Patient Access is the first point of contact when the patient arrives for their procedure and our interaction sets the precedent of their entire stay. The daily interaction with patients, their families, and care givers continue to drive her passion in providing care, comfort, knowledge, and overall patient experience. Some would say that she grew up in Patient Access with her mother’s example of 40 plus years and watching how she is so dedicated to the career encouraged her to pursue it. To this day she continues to grow and is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration at American Public University.
As a very new to WCH manager she is already working diligently with her teams to continue implementation of a virtual registration option for all patients, which will save time and streamline patient registration processes. “Since I have onboarded at WCH and Clinics I have noticed how close and welcoming the community and each individual at WCH is. We strive to put the patients’ needs first and ensure the community is taken care of.” Hernandez describes her experience and goals with WCH thus far, “One goal that we will be focusing on is the patient experience and patient satisfaction. Providing additional training and education to the team on how to communicate and ensure the patient always comes first.”