Women’s Health Clinic: Balancing Organizational Priorities to Manage Access

A small women’s health clinic at a military treatment facility experienced a sudden decrease in provider staffing, going from two to one nurse practitioner. Hiring would not be an option due to limited funding and manpower. Additionally, newly published cervical cancer screening protocols called for a change in the clinic’s overall processes. Leadership decided on a solution that would shift women’s health exams to all primary care providers to relieve patient demand on one sole provider; however, this resulted in positive and negative outcomes related to patient satisfaction, provider satisfaction, and network costs.