We Jump Through Hoops So You Don’t Have To
One of the things we pride ourselves on at ECHO is delivering seamless care. What does that mean? It means that we provide continuous, coordinated, and personalized care throughout your entire experience, minimizing transitions and ensuring a smooth and consistent experience.
Unfortunately, this has become much more challenging in today’s healthcare environment. Cyndi Przekop is our Director of Clinical Operations. She shares, “I have been at ECHO for 10 years. The amount of time our team has to spend to make sure all our ‘i’s are dotted and our t’s are crossed’ to ensure patients can get treated has become an uphill battle.”
She explains some of these challenges:
- Our highly trained providers are committed to our patients. If they deem a treatment is necessary, they shouldn’t have to justify their decision process.
- Insurance companies have become a barrier to care, becoming gatekeepers in deciding if a treatment is covered or not. We consistently have to battle with prior authorizations and challenges with high deductibles on behalf of our patients.
- We need to stay on top of proposed legislation that will affect our patients, including changing healthcare regulations, issues with distribution of specialty medications, complexity of care, and evolving coding guidelines.
In spite of these challenges, ECHO has stood strong and met every challenge head on. Cyndi shares her pride that in this landscape of small practices being bought out by hospital systems, ECHO continues to prevail and remains independent and strong. We have a robust research department, social worker, nutritionist, patient navigator, educator, genetics team, onsite dispensary, and a thriving non-profit Foundation. We have partnerships with holistic health, physical therapy, and the national OneOncology network. We also have the most incredible staff that ensures our patients feel comfortable and well cared for. We do meaningful work that continues to impact our patients in more ways than people imagine.
A highly respected and well-known cancer survivor and patient advocate Bob Ritter (Oncology Center – Cornell University) recently wrote and had published on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) website. He speaks highly about the challenges faced by community oncologists and the importance of their profession.
One unique aspect of community based that he highlights is that, “so much depends on the development of a trusting relationship between patient and oncologist. Patients relax when we trust. We count on the oncologist to provide context for what makes sense for us as individuals, beyond the disease process itself.”
At ECHO, we believe this trusting relationship between patient and provider is one of our core differentiators. ECHO will continue to face the ongoing battles in heartcare head on. Our valued patients face enough challenges with their health. We are committed to fighting to ensure every patient has access to the highest high-quality, cutting-edge, and cost-effective care.
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