Jessica Erfan: Pioneering Telemedicine in Neurology at Access TeleCare
Jessica Erfan may be new to Access TeleCare — In April, Erfan joined as National Medical Director of Neurology Advanced Practice Providers — but she’s been pioneering a greater role for APPs in neurology care for nearly two decades.
Erfan’s passion for neurology was ignited in San Antonio, where she completed her PA program at the UT Health Science Center. Her early experience led her to an outpatient neurology practice in California and later to an inpatient neurology practice in Seattle, where she focused primarily on stroke, and got an early taste of what telemedicine could do for patients.
Returning to Texas, Jessica channeled her energy for APP advocacy into leadership roles, ultimately representing around 100 APPs working in medical specialties and primary care, while still maintaining her practice in neurology. Her work expanded into APP education with formalized lectures and mentorships.
“I have a huge passion for education,” Erfan said in a recent interview. While precepting students for their neurology rotations, Jessica earned teaching awards and served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor for the PA program at her alma mater in San Antonio. Then, in a groundbreaking achievement, Erfan became one of the first APPs to earn an academic appointment as Assistant Professor with the UT Dell Medical School’s neurology department.
Meanwhile, Erfan became a leader at the national level as well. She became actively involved with the American Academy of Neurology and was invited to participate in one of the earliest committee meetings to discuss the role of APPs in neurology, at a time when no APPs served on committees at the academy. Following that, Erfan became the first APP to secure a seat on the education committee of the American Academy of Neurology.
Moving to Access TeleCare
Erfan’s journey to Access TeleCare was spurred by a conversation with Dr. Annie Tsui, a colleague for many years, and Access TeleCare’s Chief of Neurology.
She was not initially drawn to telemedicine due to her experiences with hands-on patient care. However, the opportunity to lead in a new direction, fostering the growth of telemedicine at scale, and bringing recognition to the value of APPs into this high-quality care delivery model was too exciting to pass up.
“What really attracted me to Access TeleCare is it’s a beautiful marriage of tech and healthcare,” said Erfan. “The traditional brick-and-mortar healthcare systems can be more complex to enact changes. There are so many layers that slow down efficiencies — so bringing the tech component and business world to healthcare is an innovative way to solve problems.”
Intrigued by the prospect of building a new program aimed at solving one of healthcare’s biggest challenges — access to care — Erfan was inspired to make the leap.
Recruiting the Best APPs
In her role as Director of Neurology APPs (for short), Erfan actively seeks talented APPs from across the country to join Access TeleCare.
She looks for APPs who are comfortable with neurology, which is traditionally a complex field, and who can also demonstrate autonomy, professionalism, and personability on screen. Moreover, she is seeking candidates who are adaptable to the changing demands of acute neurology care.
It’s uncommon to find all those qualities in one APP — yet Erfan says Access TeleCare is attracting the best and brightest: “We’re getting the rock stars.”
Erfan’s conversations with potential APPs go beyond just evaluating their experience. She acknowledges that although experience is beneficial, it does not necessarily equate to a perfect fit. It is essential for candidates to show their capabilities in acute neurology care, their willingness to learn, and their readiness to navigate the challenges of healthcare, telemedicine or otherwise.
One unique offering at Access TeleCare is the ongoing professional development and internal education series. This provides APPs with continuous learning opportunities, a feature that many traditional and in-person jobs, particularly those outside of academic centers, do not offer.
Asked about her management philosophy, Erfan responded: “I live by two tenets: one that we’re delivering the best care in neurology. And two, that we have high job satisfaction.”
Erfan noted those two things are not always true in healthcare: “Not everyone lives by that. It is often easy to plug a clinician into a schedule and not necessarily invest in the professional development or invest in quality of care. It’s special to be a part of an organization that genuinely cares about those things.”
Building the future
Erfan’s move to Access TeleCare wasn’t just a step forward in her career — it’s, as she put it, building the future of healthcare.
“I like how agile, innovative, and inclusive it is here. Telemedicine solves problems that the traditional healthcare system can get bogged down in. We can be a nimble solution to historically pervasive needs.”
