Door-to-Doc

To deal with overcrowding in emergency departments, Banner Health created "Door to Doc'', an innovative program to deal with long waits in the emergency departments and people leaving without treatment.

The program was piloted at one metro Phoenix Banner hospital and based on the success at that facility was implemented across the system. Door-to-Doc has resulted in a 65-percent improvement in patient access to care.

A main feature of our nationally recognized program is that patient flow is split into “less sick” and “sicker” patient subgroups based on a “quick look” rather than a full triage.  This has the advantage of keeping less sick patients, which is the vast majority, flowing (rather than waiting in the lobby) during busy times.

Less sick patients move among treatment areas as they would in a clinic setting. 

Additionally, they get to stay in their own clothes and are able to sit and wait for their lab and other test results outside of the flow of other patients.

We also offer a joint medical assessment by a nurse and physician together which is more efficient for the patient and the health care providers.

Because of the success of this program, Banner Health has provided other health care facilities a D2D Toolkit, includes tools for implementation and addresses both the process and people aspects.