State of the GSCC - August 2025 Edition
GSCC Team,
GSCC is not just a community health center — it’s a mission field, a team of people who care deeply about our patients and our community. In the past 30 days, I’ve watched you carry heavy workloads, adapt to changes, and keep showing up with commitment and heart. This update is here to celebrate your work, shine a light on what we’ve accomplished, and share the road ahead — because every single one of you deserves to know how important your role is in what we’re building.
Patient Care & Quality
Care Delivery Model: We’re moving forward with the new Care Management model (CM1–3). RN Care Managers are starting to play a bigger and more focused role in care planning, pre-visit prep, and annual wellness visits.
Cycle Times: Average patient visit time in mid-August was about 69 minutes. POD B was the fastest (43 minutes), and 12th Street was the longest (100 minutes).
Quality Measures: We’re hitting goals in areas like blood pressure control (76%) and depression screening (90%). We’ve also improved breast cancer screening rates (up 7% in one month). Diabetes management of A1Cs >9 or untested has had a negative trend over last month but we are still meeting goal.
Labs & Imaging: In one week alone we processed 372 lab send-outs, 59 point-of-care tests, and 11 x-rays.
Pharmacy: Our capture rate hit 50.7% one week in mid-July — that’s the highest yet! We are continuing to strive for 50% consistently each week. Thank you all for helping to promote our pharmacy! It truly matters.
Workforce & Staffing
New Providers:
Dr. Fraley has arrived at the GSCC and has started seeing patients. Welcome, Dr. Fraley…we are glad you’re here. She is in Dr. Carnahan and Daphnee’s pod.
Megan Powers, APRN, begins Sept 9. She will be in Dr. LanCarte and Gina’s pod. She will work Monday-Thursday 8a to 5p.
Recruitment Efforts: We are hiring and interviewing for the following positions:
3 Site Operations Directors (Walnut, 12th, Bloom)
3 RN Care Managers - the goal is one RNCM for each 2-3 full-time providers.
LPNs, MAs, and Patient Advocates
Healthcare Data Analyst & Admin Assistant
Training: Multiple staff are cross-training to cover gaps and strengthen our team’s core values of FLEXIBILITY and RESILIENCE. We are so appreciative of your willingness to make yourself available to help support other team members and serve our patients! Thank you all so much!
Operations & Finance
Financial Health:
We’re excited to share that we’ve received a long-awaited payment from Centene (SoonerSelect). They had been behind on more than $100,000 in claims for several months, and we’re grateful to finally see those funds come through. This is a positive step that helps strengthen our cash flow and supports the work we do every day.
We are continuing to monitor the healthcare climate for potential changes to reimbursement models and any changes though Executive Orders that may affect our financial operations. We will keep you in the loop should any key changes affect your role.
RCM (Revenue Cycle Management):
The “Prosper Beyond” project kicked off. We’re collecting provider rosters, payer contracts, and billing data in an effort to renegotiate our payer contracts as some of them seriously underpay us for the services and care we provide our patients.
Collaborative Care billing for Behavioral Health is in progress.
Patient statements were mailed mid-August; work continues on bad debt write-offs. If you are a patient of the GSCC, please make sure you are keeping your accounts current.
We are still working through payer issues with Humana.
Operations:
Over the past month, our top priority has been filling open positions so we can ease the load on those of you who have been carrying extra weight. I can’t say enough how much it means to see so many of you stepping in wherever needed. Your willingness to support your teammates and care for our patients — even when it stretches you — shows the heart of GSCC. I am deeply grateful for the way you give of yourselves for one another and for those we serve.
Our providers are now actively using AI Scribes during visits, and the feedback has been very encouraging. This new tool is already helping to lighten the charting workload, giving providers more time and focus for their patients. We’re excited about the possibilities this technology brings as we continue moving forward with our Care Management model.
IT & Facilities:
IT has been reviewing ticketing systems to better manage IT issues, meanwhile we are also working to pilot new ticketing for Facilities, and Purchase Order requests. More details coming soon.
Facilities is gathering quotes for repairs and upgrades for our most critical needs.
Front Desk & Patient Access
Call Center (Aug 11–15):
Total calls: 886 (676 answered = 76%; 210 missed = 24%).
Total talk time: nearly 20 hours.
Scheduling: Right now, our clinic-wide schedule utilization is at 64%, and our goal is to reach 95–100%. This is an exciting opportunity for growth. We know it takes time for new providers to build their practice — usually about a year — so we plan for this ramp-up period. By six months in, we aim for an average of 15 patients per day for the new providers, with the longer-term target being a full schedule (21-24 per day depending on the provider’s schedule). We like to allow for a 15% no show rate which then sets the benchmark at 18-20 patients per day.
When we reach these goals, it doesn’t just mean more patients are getting the care they need. It also creates more financial capacity for GSCC to invest back into our people — including the ability to increase wages, hire more support staff, and expand into services. Every patient we add to the schedule helps strengthen the whole organization and creates more opportunities for growth for everyone on the team. Getting our schedule utilization rate to goal helps everyone…especially our community! If we can get our clinic-wide numbers to 95%…we can do so much good! Please help us fill the schedules!
Community Engagement
Events:
Ardmore Literacy Day: We gave out school supplies to over 400 kids.
HFV Back-to-School Event: Another 200+ kids received supplies.
EmpowHER: Our final event will be Sept 6 — we are looking forward to hanging out with all of you who have committed to volunteering at the event. We appreciate you so much!
Patient Experience Surveys:
Overall satisfaction: 87% (goal = 90%).
High scores: Dental (95%), Walnut Pharmacy (96%), 12th Pharmacy (90%).
Areas to improve: Bloom (75%) and 12th Street (77%).
Patient concerns: staff interactions, wait times, and appointment availability.
Compliance & Risk
No formal patient grievances reported this month.
All credentialing and privileging updates were completed without issues.
A new referral risk assessment is underway.
New policies (check them out soon on HERDTHAT):
Affordable insulin & epinephrine for low-income patients
Updated emergency preparedness plan
Infection control & sterilization standards
Employment relationship and separation
What’s Next
Hiring: Continued focus on filling open RN, LPN, MA, and Site Ops positions.
Contracts: Payer negotiation consultant is working with us to push for better reimbursement rates from our commercial payers.
Patient Access: Improving schedule utilization rates is a key organizational goal. Help us fill the schedules! We are at 64%…let’s see if we can get to 80% by the end of September!
Pharmacy Capture Rate: Continues to be a priority. Help us get to 50%!!
Community: Wrapping up EmpowHER in September, then shifting focus to fall outreach.
Board Planning: Leadership is preparing for the annual planning session to set 2026 priorities.
Final Word
We’ve had a busy month — welcoming new providers, improving quality scores, getting started on the Care Management work, and fighting with insurance companies to get paid. At the same time, we’re still pushing hard to hire staff, reduce wait times, and improve schedule fill and pharmacy capture rates.
Every role in GSCC matters — from the front desk to answering calls, to providers in exam rooms, to finance, IT, and admin staff working behind the scenes. Thank you for everything you do to make GSCC a place where patients feel cared for and our mission continues to grow. Thank you! Your work truly matters.
You are loved,
Teresa