Cheryl Martin (Host): BayCare is now offering new ways to help make your life better with convenience to get the services you need and deserve so you can have an enhanced patient experience. Here to explain it all is Dr. Christopher Bucciarelli. He's BayCare's vice president of ambulatory services and chief medical officer. This is BayCare HealthChat. I'm Cheryl Martin. Dr. Bucciarelli, delighted to have you on to discuss this new model of health care.

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: Thank you so much for having me today, Cheryl. I'm excited to be here.

Cheryl Martin (Host): So tell us all about BayCare HealthHubs.

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: So the BayCare HealthHub is a concept that we really tried to bring to our community so that we can create a true one-stop shop. When we look at our HealthHubs, and how we kind of classify our HealthHubs, is by being able to provide at least three of our services, and usually even more than that, under one roof for those patients.

When we look at that, we think about our BMG [BayCare Medical Group] or primary care and it can be specialty care. It can also be our lab services or imaging services. In addition to that, it can either be an urgent care or free-standing emergency department that can also be within the facility and even in one of our ambulatory surgery centers.

The idea behind it is that you can really go to one location and be able to get whatever type of care you need that day and it be efficient, effective, and really seamlessly through that transition.

Cheryl Martin (Host): That's great. Now, when a patient goes to that location, are they automatically a part of the HealthHub? So this is not something they have to ask for. This just automatically happens?

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: You're correct. And so it really is that you can go and have one of those services done, but it really allows for that synergy. And a great example is thinking about going to your primary care physician or provider. You go see your primary care provider and they say, “We need you to get these labs done, as well as this X-ray or image done.”

What you can do right after your visit is you can seamlessly kind of walk out there, go and get those labs done, get that imaging done, and then you're on your merry way instead of having to go to potentially three, four, depending on how many things that you need to get done, locations at once. You can get in that one-stop service where it provides that high quality care under one roof.

Cheryl Martin (Host): That's great because a lot of times you also have to schedule and wait a month or several days to get an appointment for these other procedures.

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: Yeah, absolutely. And that's where what we try to do to our basic capability is really try to streamline that for the patient as much as possible, especially when it comes to labs or some of those other imaging components. We want to make sure, again, that we can be as effective as possible and provide slots or provide times that you're able to really do all of it in one day or at one time.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Any other advantages you see to this, or have you gotten any feedback from customers?

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: That's a great question, and I really do think that that synergy component is really being seen just from a volume standpoint. At our HealthHubs, we've consistently seen the volume increase, even outpace some of our other areas that maybe don't have that synergy component to it. But also in terms of the patient satisfaction and being able to have that experience where they do have that one-stop shop, and they can get their services.

They know that they're going to get a high quality service because it is a part of the BayCare brand and being able to have that more effective experience. And so that's something that we see time and time again. And the feedback is saying that it is really great that we're able to provide those services all under one roof so they're not having to travel to multiple areas for those different components.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Now, where are the HealthHubs located?

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: We have them throughout really all of West Central Florida and all the different counties that we're currently in.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Are there plans for other HealthHubs?

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: I’m glad you asked that question. Currently we're breaking ground for two: one in Manatee County as well as one in Carrollwood, and so those both should be coming online within the year. We have a few more planned as well. And right now we're really trying to find the best location for each of those.

So that we can make sure to deliver that high quality care to all of our customers.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Are you at liberty to say where those three will be?

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: Yeah. So, one of them will be in, and it'll be in conjunction with our Manatee hospital down in Manatee. We also have one in Carrollwood that we're currently breaking ground on. And then the final one will be up north that we're finalizing some locations for it.

Cheryl Martin (Host): And how soon are you looking for these to be up and running?

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: So the two that we had mentioned before should be within the next year. So both of those will be opening in the following year.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Great. Now I understand there is a virtual HealthHub coming. Sounds exciting. Talk about that.

Dr Chris Bucciarelli: Yeah. It's one of the concepts that we're currently developing right now, and it's that same idea about being able to provide that one-stop shop for convenience for our patients. And so what we're trying to do is look at, again, providing those teleservices, as well as other options within that realm for our patients to be able to, again, go to that one location and then be able to provide access to those real time.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Doctor, anything else you'd like to add about the HealthHub and its advantages?

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: If you do need any primary care services, specialty services, or any labs, imaging, urgent care, free-standing ED’s, ambulatory surgery center, any of those health care services. Please come out and check us out.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Dr. Christopher Bucciarelli thank you for your time and just for educating us on BayCare’s HealthHubs. Thank you.

Dr. Chris Bucciarelli: Thank you.

Cheryl Martin (Host): Now that wraps up this episode of BayCare HealthChat. Head on over to our website at BayCare.org for more information and to get connected with one of our providers. Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and all the other BayCare podcasts. For more health tips and updates, follow us on your social channels and if you found this podcast informative, please share it on your social media and be sure to check out all the other interesting podcasts in our library. Thanks for listening.