Health Innovation Case Studies

Rethinking Care: One Day, All Specialists, Faster Outcomes

When I was doing my postdoctoral research, one question kept driving me: How can we improve operations in clinical care? Breast cancer management, as I observed it, was an incredibly fragmented process, even in one of the world’s top hospitals. Patients diagnosed with breast cancer would visit multiple specialists—surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, and radiation oncologists. Each specialist would review notes, sometimes communicate recommendations asynchronously, and occasionally discuss complex cases in multidisciplinary meetings held weekly or bi-weekly.

While this approach worked from a clinical perspective, the patient experience was often overlooked. Imagine having to repeatedly recount your story—reliving the stress of a cancer diagnosis—while waiting weeks or months to get a clear picture of your treatment plan. For a patient dealing with a life-threatening illness, the process was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting.

Reimagining the Process: The One-Day Multidisciplinary Clinic

What if we flipped the process on its head? Instead of making patients shuttle between appointments with different specialists, why not bring all the specialists together in one place, at one time, for a single-day multidisciplinary clinic (MDC)?

Here’s how it could work: the patient feels something is wrong—like a lump in the breast—and schedules an evaluation. On that day, all the specialists they need to see meet with them in the same clinic. The specialists collaborate in real-time, discussing the patient’s case together and aligning on a unified plan. Before the patient leaves, they not only know what’s going on but also what the next steps will be. It’s a seamless, patient-centered process.

The concept sounded simple, but the challenges were significant. The biggest hurdle? Coordinating schedules for all these specialists and convincing them to adopt a new way of working. It required shifting their routines, something that’s no small ask in a busy clinical environment.

Breaking Barriers

To make this idea a reality, I had to start with the leadership. I presented the concept to the Department Chair, framing it in terms of the problem patients faced: long waits, fragmented communication, and the overwhelming complexity of navigating cancer care. The idea resonated, but it also raised concerns. Could such a streamlined approach work without disrupting the core clinical responsibilities of the specialists involved? Would it be feasible in practice?

With the Chair’s support, the next step was to persuade the specialists—one by one. I spent time with each of them, explaining the vision and addressing their concerns. Changing clinic schedules wasn’t easy, and the idea of stepping away from their usual workflows to participate in a new model required careful negotiation.

But it wasn’t just about convincing people—it was also about designing a system that worked. Together with physicians, nursing staff, and patient coordinators, we developed a scheduling strategy to make the clinic run smoothly. Everyone’s input was crucial to create a model that didn’t just work on paper but was sustainable in practice.

Running the Experiment: One Year, Real Results

With everything in place, we piloted the one-day multidisciplinary clinic for breast cancer patients over the course of a year. The results were remarkable:

• Faster Diagnosis to Treatment: The average time from diagnosis to starting treatment dropped from 29 days to 12 days. That’s more than a 50% reduction in delays.

• Better Care Plans: Because all specialists discussed the case together, patients were more likely to receive a tailored, evidence-based treatment plan that considered every aspect of their condition.

• Improved Patient Experience: Patients reported feeling more supported and less stressed. They left the clinic with clarity and confidence about their care.

These outcomes weren’t just about speed—they were about creating a better, more humane experience for patients. For someone facing a life-altering diagnosis, this streamlined approach made an enormous difference.

Pilot to Practice: Scaling the Innovation

The success of the pilot led to transformative changes. The hospital received new funding to develop a dedicated clinic for the one-day multidisciplinary model, expanding its capacity to serve more patients. The results of the study were published in a leading medical journal, offering a blueprint for other institutions to follow. Most importantly, this approach was adopted as a standard of care for breast cancer patients at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Achieving this wasn’t easy. It required bringing together multiple stakeholders, addressing resistance to change, and creating a system that worked for both patients and providers. The challenges were significant, but so were the rewards. The clinic demonstrated that innovation in healthcare doesn’t always require groundbreaking technology—sometimes, it’s about rethinking the way we deliver care.