Jobs shifted, not cut, in on-site switch
December 1, 1998 2 minutes read
Jobs shifted, not cut, in on-site switch
When Franciscan Hospitals of Ohio Valley in Cincinnati decentralized registration, eliminating the traditional admitting department and reducing registration full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions, it did so without laying off any employees, notes Patricia J. Young, CHAM, regional registration process manager for the Western Hills campus.
Before the reorganization, each of the Cincinnati campuses had a registration department with 21 FTEs reporting to a department manager, explains Young, who formerly held that position at Western Hills.
Now eight of those FTEs report to the emergency department (ED) manager at each campus. Four central scheduling FTEs now report to the surgery department at each campus. Six admitting coordinators still report to Young, and another six to her counterpart at Mount Airy campus.
In a state of flux’
The registration process managers will relinquish responsibility for the admitting coordinators, she says, when a new patient accounting manager is hired. "They were to report to the patient accounting department, but that manager left, so the situation has been in a state of flux.
"There was some downsizing, but no one lost their job," she explains. When Franciscan Medical Center in Dayton (OH) merged with its Cincinnati counterparts, the billing operations for all three facilities moved to the Mount Airy campus. More employees were needed in that department, Young says, so some of the former registration employees moved to billing.
Admitting coordinator is a new position added as a result of the reorganization. Those six employees — four are scheduled each day — are called to the registration desk when a patient arrives for admission, Young says. They take the patient to his or her room and perform the registration, including insurance verification and preauthorization.
The admitting coordinators work 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, she adds. After hours, the ED takes care of any admissions. "On Sundays, 90% of admissions are from the ED, so we don’t need an admissions staff."
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