This story is one of more than 20 health system profiles featured in the 2025 AMA Joy in Medicine® magazine (log into your AMA account to view).
Nonphysician providers make up at least 30% of the clinician workforce at Jefferson Health, a multi-state nonprofit health system that serves the Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey region. But—like many health care organizations—Jefferson Health faced support staff challenges in the health system’s outpatient settings.
To address this care gap, Jefferson Health decided to deploy two new care models: Same Day, Next Day Cancer Care and Virtual Medical Assistants in Primary Care. Physicians appreciate this additional support in clinic, and the physician assistants and nurse practitioners appreciate the autonomy that doctors allow in this model.
“Teamwork is rooted in trust that you have in your care team to do the right thing and do the job they were hired to do. When the team is working efficiently together it will provide a great patient experience,” says Nicole Escobedo, M.Ed, senior director of clinician well-being at Jefferson Health, which encompasses 700 sites of care, including 32 hospital campuses and 25 urgent care centers.
Jefferson Health's approach to teamwork evolves from the clinic—seeing how things are happening, understanding the relationships and the level of respect that everyone has for each other, and assessing each role on the care team.
Maximizing the expertise of nonphysician providers and fulfilling their advanced role to serve patients in the greatest capacity that they can are two of Jefferson Health’s key objectives. Making this happen strengthens the overall care team, says Escobedo, who leads enterprise-wide initiatives to enhance well-being, improve the work environment and drive systemic change.
A silver recipient in AMA’s Joy in Medicine ® Health System Recognition Program in 2024, Jefferson Health embraces initiatives that’s made this health system a leader in teamwork and seamless workflows to improve patient care and reduce physician burnout.
Same Day, Next Day cancer care
One of the cornerstones of Jefferson Health’s teamwork initiatives is its Same Day, Next Day program. While the primary purpose of this program was to reduce the wait time from diagnosis to first oncology appointment, the business case for clinician well-being has always been a secondary need, she admits. Primary care physicians and other health professionals “can act immediately on next steps upon delivering a diagnosis, oncology advanced practice clinicians are working top of license and physician oncologists have what they need to begin treatment sooner.”
This program allows for seamless communication between the primary care team that diagnoses a patient with cancer and the medical oncology team.
