Comprehensive Women’s Health Alliance’s Celebrates 1st Anniversary: Shows Women Want, Need an Easy-to-Navigate Health Care Model

At its recent one-year anniversary, the Comprehensive?Women’s Health Alliance?offered by the University of Miami Health System celebrated passing the 500-patient milestone, proving women want and need a comprehensive one-stop health and wellness care model.

The Comprehensive Women’s Health Alliance has been a game changer for South Florida women of all ages, according to Roy Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., an endocrinologist at UHealth and professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.?

“Our program offers expert-led care that spans a woman’s entire life – a one-of-a-kind program in the South Florida region. ?It’s not only about treating illnesses; it’s about promoting wellness, understanding health disparities and advancing evidence-based practices,” Dr. Weiss said.

Busy and Don’t Know Where to Start?

Yvette Gomez, 38, works in health care as a senior practice manager for general/internal medicine at the University of Miami Health System. But when she noticed her own nagging health issues, even Gomez said she didn’t know where to start.

She didn’t want to go down the rabbit holes of trying to call doctors’ offices and making appointments way into the future. Like many patients, Gomez wanted to avoid going to multiple providers before landing in the right providers’ offices and getting the right diagnoses.

An internal medicine doctor told Gomez about the Comprehensive Women’s Health Alliance, and she reached out through the Alliance’s direct number.

“Everybody there was so kind, full of information and explained the process in great detail. They let me know, based on my history, questions and concerns, which appointments I should be booking. They booked those for me right away. I was shocked. Sometimes you have to wait a long time for doctors’ appointments,” Gomez said.

Not only that, but the Alliance’s nurse coordinator, who is the first to engage with potential patients, answered Gomez’s questions about age-appropriate screenings and preventative care.

“They were able to accommodate me because my work schedule is not the easiest,” Gomez said. “And the providers on their team are wonderful. I’ve had wonderful experiences so far.”

Gomez described the Women’s Health Alliance as a one-stop-shop. Women can go in with just about any health concern or question, avoid having to make multiple calls for appointments and receive care based on their needs.

From Experiment to Proof of Concept

The first year in business far exceeded expectations, according to Comprehensive Women’s Health Alliance Director Morgan Allyn Sendzischew Shane, M.D., MSCTI, a gastroenterologist at UHealth and assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Miller School.?

“We knew in theory that we had a good idea, but you can’t prove it until you launch it. And we have had an overwhelmingly positive response from our patients and the community,” Dr. Shane said. ?

The Alliance is a comprehensive program which focuses on preventative care, offering primary care and gynecology, which are big entry points for new patients. The Alliance also offers women providers who specialize in urogynecology, breast imaging and breast health, pelvic floor therapy, dermatology, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, nutrition services, other types of diagnostic imaging and behavioral health. The Alliance is working on adding an obesity and weight management program.

“We’ve been able to connect an incredible number of women to extremely needed services, helping them to be as healthy as they can be,” Dr. Shane said.

How the Women's Health Alliance Model Works

Women connect with the program in a variety of ways — finding the Alliance organically, on the online landing page or by referral from providers in or even outside UHealth.

A nurse navigator screens each patient based on her age bracket, medical information or history, as well as questions, concerns or symptoms.?

“We go through a whole host of questions based on age and chief complaint,” Dr. Shane said. “Based on that, we identify which services the patients need in order to best connect them within our health system.”

Magaly Martinez B.S.N., R.N., OCN, a nurse coordinator at the Comprehensive Women's Health Alliance, spends her working hours gathering the information necessary from callers to start the multidisciplinary care process. Regardless of how many appointments, appointment times and locations a woman might need, Martinez is there to coordinate them all between patient and UHealth clinicians or, in the case of screenings, UHealth imaging centers.

Martinez said patients are so happy when she calls them having secured timely appointments, scheduled according to the patients’ busy lives. Not only that, as the nurse coordinator, she often is the go-between, letting the patient know about when her appointments are scheduled, where and with whom. The nurse also answers health questions and will get the answers from a practice if a patient has questions about a medication’s side effects, results and more.

“We get a lot of different calls. You never know what you’re going to get, which I love,” Martinez said. “I use my nursing skills and have a background in mental health. It’s a phone line that women can call and somebody who can help them is going to be there.”

The Alliance doesn’t exist to navigate the entire health system for every patient. That’s not realistic, Dr. Shane said. The goal, rather, is to have one gateway to access important preventative screenings and to address nagging health issues that may not be life-threatening but may be affecting women’s quality of life.

Woman to Woman

Dr. Shane said women’s health has always been a focus of her career as a gastroenterologist.

“I went to an all-women’s college and all-women’s summer camp. I am a female practicing physician. I’ve been lucky enough to have mentors and a division chief and department chairs who have always been in tune with the women’s health aspect of my interest in training,” she said.

This model in women’s health care has been not only a win for patients, but also for providers, according to Dr. Shane.

“We’re really making a difference in such a dedicated population. By keeping our female population healthy and happy, we’re going to have a much more vibrant female community. I love how grateful all our patients are,” she said. “Nothing makes me happier than hearing our patients are getting all the appropriate health screenings and addressing things that were nagging at their quality of life.”

The Alliance helps women in the community to prioritize their health.

“Women often have a to-do list a mile long, be it for their jobs, their children, their parents, their households, their spouse, their pets,” Dr. Shane said. “And, frankly, navigating health care in 2024? is complicated making it the last thing many women want to tackle.”

What’s Next for the Alliance?

Because of the high demand for Comprehensive Women’s Health Alliance’s services, Dr. Shane said that increasing provider partnerships is on her to-do list, including highly sought after and experienced primary care doctors and gynecologists.

“We’re also planning the expansion of our subspecialty services to include service lines like neurology, with a focus on headache, as well as more ancillary services, like nutrition classes and expanding pelvic floor therapy access,” Dr. Shane said.

And now that the staff has proof of concept — they know the program is well liked and sought after by South Florida women — the goal is to improve the model by evaluating their processes, focusing on streamlining access and expanding to include research on women’s health outcomes, according to Dr. Shane.

With cutting-edge technology, an expert medical staff, and a patient-centered environment, UHealth is ideally suited to have rolled out and expand the program based on the needs of South Florida women, according to Dr. Weiss.

“I firmly believe that the alliance is a gamechanger, empowering women to achieve better health outcomes and enhancing our understanding of gender-specific health issues,” he said.

To make an appointment, call 855-34-WOMEN or visit umiamihealth.org/WH.

Lisette Hilton is a contributor for the University of Miami Health System.

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