Ability to estimate equals quadruple revenue
Emergency department (ED) registrars at the University of Washington (UW) Medical Center in Seattle have collected co-pays for five years, but soon they also will collect coinsurance from patients and give cost estimates on the patient’s total out-of-pocket responsibility.
“That is a big amount of untapped revenue. Our cash collection will probably quadruple, if not more than that,” says Donna Aasheim, CHAM, director of patient access services. “We are seeing some anxiety from some staff. But once they get into it, it will become routine for them, just like collecting copays has.”
The department invested in a price estimation tool, which staff will use to collect at the time of discharge from the ED and prior to service in other areas, she explains. “We are already developing work instructions, as well as new scripting developed for each phase of the process, and policies around those,” she says. “Hundreds of hours have gone in behind the scenes to roll this out.”
The project will begin in the emergency department and then will be phased in for all other areas across UW Medicine. The biggest challenge has been the culture shift for the organization, says Aasheim, with the registrars asking patients to pay more of their financial responsibility upfront.
“People are going to be surprised seeing that number ahead of time,” she says. “And if there are previous balances, we are going to try and collect those too.”
Emergency department (ED) registrars at the University of Washington (UW) Medical Center in Seattle have collected co-pays for five years, but soon they also will collect coinsurance from patients and give cost estimates on the patients total out-of-pocket responsibility.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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