Riverside Clinic will change how patients book appointments starting next month. Patients who want a same-day visit should call, if possible, before nine in the morning. Each patient will receive a text message that confirms the appointment time. This new system should shorten wait times for everyone at the clinic. Patients who arrive without an appointment, especially during busy hours, may face a longer wait to be seen. Walk-in visits will still be accepted but only when the official schedule allows it.

Dr. Amara Osei, the clinic's medical director, said the new system will reduce confusion for many patients. She explained that most patients will now wait less than fifteen minutes to be seen. Patients who need to cancel, for any reason, should call the front desk at least one day ahead. The clinic will review this new process again after the first few complete months. Anyone with questions about the new system should speak with the front desk staff. We hope this update will make every visit smoother and less stressful for patients.

WELLPATH CLINIC — 2026 PATIENT SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS

This report summarizes findings from WellPath Clinic's annual patient satisfaction survey, distributed to 1,240 patients across our three locations between May and June. A total of 812 patients responded, yielding a response rate of 65 percent.

Overall satisfaction remained strong, with 88 percent of respondents rating their experience as "good" or "excellent," consistent with last year's results. The area receiving the highest marks was staff courtesy, where 93 percent of patients rated interactions with clinical staff positively.

The most notable area for improvement was appointment wait times. While average wait times decreased slightly compared to last year, 22 percent of respondents still described wait times as "longer than expected," particularly at our downtown location during morning hours.

Written comments frequently praised the clinic's new online check-in system, which many patients said reduced time spent in the waiting room. Several respondents also requested expanded evening appointment availability, echoing a trend seen in similar surveys across the healthcare industry.

Based on these findings, clinic leadership will prioritize adjusting downtown morning staffing levels and will explore extending evening hours at all three locations before the next survey cycle.

EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT
Prepared by: Clinical Operations Analytics Team

This report reviews emergency department (ED) performance for the second quarter, focusing on patient wait times and triage efficiency at Fairview General Hospital.

Average time from patient arrival to initial physician assessment fell from 47 minutes in Q1 to 31 minutes in Q2, following the introduction of a dedicated fast-track lane for low-acuity cases. Patient satisfaction scores related to wait times rose accordingly, from 61 percent to 78 percent.

Despite this improvement, overnight shifts between midnight and 6:00 a.m. continued to show longer average wait times, largely attributed to reduced physician staffing during these hours. The department recommends adding one additional physician to the overnight rotation beginning next quarter to address this gap.

The report also notes a 15 percent increase in ED visits related to minor injuries that could plausibly have been treated at urgent care clinics, suggesting an opportunity for community outreach to redirect non-emergency cases.

Full data tables and methodology notes are available in the appendix. The Clinical Operations Analytics Team will present these findings at the August department meeting.

Youth Sports Injuries on the Rise, Physical Therapists Say

Physical therapy clinics across the region report a steady increase in young athletes seeking treatment for overuse injuries, a trend clinicians attribute to children specializing in a single sport at increasingly younger ages.

"Ten years ago, most of our pediatric patients came in with acute injuries from a fall or a collision," said Dr. Amara Okafor, lead physical therapist at Crestview Sports Medicine. "Now, a growing share of our caseload involves repetitive stress injuries in kids who train in the same sport year-round, sometimes on multiple teams at once."

Okafor noted that many young patients arrive with symptoms similar to those seen in adult athletes decades older, including tendon inflammation and joint pain that worsens with continued activity. Left untreated, she said, some of these injuries can affect bone development in growing children.

To address this trend, Crestview has expanded its pediatric program to include injury-prevention workshops for local youth sports leagues, focusing on proper warm-up techniques and the importance of rest days between training sessions. The clinic has also partnered with three school districts to provide on-site screening before the start of each sports season.

"Our goal isn't to discourage kids from playing sports," Okafor said. "It's to help coaches, parents, and young athletes recognize early warning signs before a manageable strain becomes a season-ending injury."