Is the access name game due for new installment?
Name hasn’t carried weight’
Is there about to be a big push to return patient access departments to those names — such as admitting and patient registration — that many hospitals dismissed several years ago as being outdated?
"There’s a renewed interest in calling registration — registration," suggests Jack Duffy, FHFMA, director and founder of Integrated Revenue Management (IRM) in Carlsbad, CA. "With access, we know what we’d like to imply, but that name has just not carried the necessary weight."
A bit negative?
In some instances, he says, the access designation actually has been a bit of a negative. Although medical records professionals did an excellent job of renaming their departments health information management and making it stick, the access effort has not had that success, Duffy points out.
"Chief financial officers are saying that access has never been their first choice," he says. "I’m not sure if it’s a trend, but I’m seeing a lot of people who would like to return to the old way."
Hospital Access Management is interested in hearing what you — and your hospital administration — think about the access name game and whether it’s due for an update. Please let us know by calling editor Lila Moore at (520) 299-8730 or sending e-mail to l[email protected].
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