Inside MultiCare’s Oncology Access Playbook with CMO Dr. Yarrow McConnell
In oncology, performance is not just about getting patients in the door. It is about getting them to the right specialist, at the right time, with less friction across every handoff. This episode features a presentation from the ROI-Centered Care Summit, a half-day virtual summit produced by Bright Spots Ventures in partnership with TytoCare and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA). Yarrow McConnell, MD, MSc, FACS, FSSO, Chief Medical Officer at MultiCare Cancer Institute, shares how MultiCare redesigned oncology pathways to improve access, strengthen coordination, and deliver measurable ROI. You’ll hear how MultiCare is:
- Using AI chart scrubbing to identify cancer diagnoses and concerning imaging findings earlier
- Deploying nurse navigators to accelerate intake and reduce barriers to care
- Building APP-staffed workup clinics to move patients more quickly from referral to consult
- Creating disease teams to improve handoffs and reduce siloed care
- Standardizing scheduling and authorization workflows, with virtual options built in
- Improving staging and comorbidity documentation to better reflect complexity and reimbursement
Key topics include referral lag, nurse navigation, specialty coordination, scheduling friction, and the connection between operational redesign and financial performance. MultiCare reported a 9% year-over-year increase in operating margin, an increase in likelihood to recommend from 97.86 to 98.41, and a 17% year-over-year increase in teamwork scores. If you are a health system leader, oncology executive, specialty operations leader, or care transformation leader working to improve specialty access and reduce friction across the patient journey, this episode offers a practical look at what it takes to build specialty pathways that perform.
