Access staff members tap skills of the future
Decades ago, a registrar needed a thorough understanding of medical terminology to do his or her job
"The access rep would often work as the hospital unit secretary, transcribing medical orders and completing test requests," says Tracy Abdalla, hospital access services supervisor at University of California Davis Medical Center Hospital.
These roles often were intertwined, but now are separate and more specialized. "The access rep no longer needs a thorough understanding of medical terminology," says Abdalla. "They no longer need to be focused on those processes related to the clinical care of the patient."
Instead, registrars need to get patients into the computer system as quickly as possible with all the necessary information, meet all requirements and ensure a "clean" claim, says Vicki Sanseverino, admissions manager and patient financial services liaison at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff, CA. "As a result, we can increase the amount of registration staff and decrease the amount of billers," she says.
Access needs effective processes to monitor claims denials data, says Sanseverino, and registrars must understand the laws, rules, and regulations associated with compliance. "Training is key to ensure our employees are confident and competent in delivering this information during the registration," she adds.
Abdalla predicts patient access education will focus on insurance billing, collections, claims processing, public assistance programs, computer training, and web-based technologies. Computer skills have become extremely important, she explains, because the work of patient access is completed in a variety of systems.
"The use of the web and web-based technology has exploded," says Abdalla. "This will continue to grow, forcing today's staff to remain on top of these changes if they wish to remain effective in their positions."
HAM celebrates its 30th anniversary
This is a special issue of Hospital Access Management, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the publication's first issue. Inside, we take a look at the dramatic changes in the patient access role and responsibilities over the past three decades. We cover upcoming challenges for access, necessary education and skills, advice on avoiding conflicts with clinical areas and medical staff over the expanded role of access, the reason cross-training has become necessary, and an explanation of how technology continues to change the job of patient access.
We hope you enjoy this anniversary issue, and we look forward to serving you for the next 30 years.
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