TCC Program Highlights

Physician Education Transformed

About the Transformative Care Continuum 

The Transformative Care Continuum is an accelerated pathway based on medical education competencies, which prepares students for careers in family medicine through a continuous experience from medical school through residency and beyond. Eight students are selected each year to join this innovative program, which they will complete in addition to the Heritage College’s foundational Pathways to Health and Wellness Curriculum. These eight students will be matched to a family medicine residency program at Cleveland Clinic Lakewood Family Health Center or Cleveland Clinic Akron General.

During their first three years, TCC students will spend one half-day per week at residency sites, where they will serve in a variety of capacities including medical scribe, medical assistant, patient educator and junior intern. Students spend another half-day per week with a health care manager examining and designing population health and quality improvement initiatives, aimed at improving primary care delivery at Cleveland Clinic.

Upon graduation, physicians will seamlessly transition into their residency programs. Cleveland Clinic anticipates hiring successful graduates to serve as primary care leaders within their system.

Benefits for Students

• Active 1:1 engagement with a primary care physician mentor and experiences with interprofessional medical teams
• Development of specialized leadership skills
  • Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification 
  • Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) certification 
  • Opportunity to create and carry out community projects that will benefit each student’s panel of patients. Examples of past quality improvement (QI) projects students have designed include:
    • Medicine Reconciliation – implementation improved medication reconciliation rates from 66% to 93.2%. Students wrote script for front desk to use when interacting with patients and an infographic to display in waiting room to reinforce the importance of completing patient intake forms.
    • Blood Pressure Follow-Up – focused on getting patients back into the office within 30 days if their BP was elevated above the goal rate set by physician.
    • Colorectal screening rates – improved rates of colorectal cancer screenings among patient population.
    • Process Improvement – students conducted a root cause analysis (RCA) with clinic faculty and staff to improve the process by which the primary care office engaged in population health.

• And more!