Healthcare leaders face mounting pressure to expand access, improve efficiency, and deliver high-quality care—all while physical space remains limited.
At UCI Health, Dr. Alpesh Amin, Associate Dean for Clinical Transformation, has led initiatives that leverage digital health tools and innovative care models to transform ambulatory care.
He joins the MGMA Insights Podcast to share how these digital health tools paired with team-based workflows are helping practices deliver better care without expanding brick-and-mortar facilities. Dr. Amin will also present more on this topic at the 2025 MGMA Leaders Conference.
Rethinking Ambulatory Space
For Dr. Amin, optimizing ambulatory space begins with rethinking what access to care means in the modern era.
“Bricks and mortars is limited. You can't keep building bricks and mortars to achieve opportunity in terms of access to care,” he explains.
Dr. Amin encourages practices to explore telehealth and home-based care models that expand access without requiring new facilities. He highlights how empowering patients to actively participate in their care is a critical piece of this model.
“As they feel more empowered to help in their care delivery, you hopefully will see them own it more … continue to be engaged in it,” he says. “And we know that engaged empowered patients, generally, will do better in terms of their quality and outcome over a long period of time, especially for things like chronic illness.”
Leveraging e-Consults and Telehealth
When Dr. Amin joined UCI Health, he quickly recognized the need for faster, more efficient ways to connect patients with specialists. The solution, he proposes, is e-consults.
“We’ve developed, over the years, tools that will help in terms of patient care delivery,” he says. “Our e-consults in the ambulatory space have a one-business-day turnaround.
Dr. Amin discovered this model reduced wait times drastically, with about 85% of cases resolved successfully without requiring an in-person specialist visit.
Telehealth, which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, also became a lasting part of UCI Health’s strategy.
“Telehealth and the versions of telehealth … allowed us to bring what we call business continuity back in,” Amin notes. These tools not only kept care accessible during crisis but helped UCI Health exceed ambulatory budget goals by 120% within a month.
Remote Monitoring and Innovative Patient Touchpoints
One of the most impactful innovations was UCI Health’s COVID-19 remote monitoring program, where they can directly monitor patients’ oxygenation and vital signs.
“We were able to drop the length of stay for patients in the hospital by a day while not adversely affecting our readmissions,” Amin highlights.
This freed up hospital capacity and kept patients safely at home, reducing the burden on ambulatory clinics. Other touchpoints included digital scheduling, online access to labs, and even parking lot intakes during the pandemic. As Amin explains, “You think about drive-throughs … but there’s new technology that you need to have in order to facilitate that process.”
Building Strong Multidisciplinary Teams
For long-term sustainability, Dr. Amin emphasizes team-based care and clear role expectations.
“Health care is a team sport, not an individual sport,” he says “We’ve kind of helped people understand that and how to delegate certain responsibilities.”
By expanding access to multidisciplinary resources—whether through onsite staff, telehealth referrals or community partners—clinics can provide comprehensive support without overburdening physicians. Collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Epic Chat have become essential.
“The more information I know, the better I can make a decision about the patient … And if I can hand off that information like a baton to the next person, then they’re stepping up to the plate in an easy way,” Amin shared.
Patient Adoption and the Role of AI
While some leaders worry about patients adopting digital tools, Dr. Amin discovered surprising results. Convenience, accessibility and comfort with consumer technology have helped patients of all ages embrace digital health.
“More and more people, even as they age, are utilizing tech to facilitate their healthcare delivery,” he says.
Looking forward, Dr. Amin sees artificial intelligence as a key driver of transformation, adding, “We should be on the forefront of trying to figure out best practices and the utilization of AI for better and more efficient health care delivery that optimizes quality.”
Advice for Medical Practice Leaders
For practices considering similar transformations, Dr. Amin advised starting with clear goals and a committed team.
“My first thing is be open to the fact that there could be different ways of doing things … It doesn’t have to be a big team, but a team to ask the question, ‘how can I do it differently to meet my goals?’”
Dr. Amin recommends setting and building towards achievable targets that can include:
- Reducing no-show rates
- Increasing patient growth
- Improving continuity
Once these goals are set, practices can implement an iterative process of identifying gaps at every step.
“Celebrate your successes and your wins as you’re continuing to move forward. At the end of the day, the patients are the ones that will win, and that’s what we want.”
Resources:
- 2025 MGMA Leaders Conference: September 28 - October 2 in Orlando, FL - Register Here
- Dr. Amin Alpesh's session: "Ambulatory Space Optimization with Digital Health Transformation" Tuesday, Sept. 30 @ 1:00 PM
- UCI Health
- Connect with Dr. Alpesh Amin on LinkedIn
