Hospital Access Management 2003-09-01

Architect’s vision set the framework for innovative outpatient tracking

Presented with the opportunity to revamp outpatient registration in conjunction with the opening of a beautiful new facility, Parrish Medical Center patient registration manager Linda Lilleboe, RN, MSN, and business office director Christine Rich MHA, faced more than the usual challenges.

PDAs, smart cards planned to enhance outpatient flow

Not content to rest on their laurels after implementation of a cutting-edge outpatient tracking system, Parrish Medical Center patient registration manager Linda Lilleboe, RN, MSN, and business office director Christine Rich, MHA, are looking toward future enhancements of the process.

Hospitals check billing as spotlight intensifies

With growing scrutiny nationwide of how hospitals bill and collect payments from their uninsured patients, access managers and their bosses are taking a look at their self-pay policies and reflecting on how this trend will affect revenue management strategies.

Network provides its training, support on-line

A web page for registration training and support for Aurora Health Cares metro region is providing a wealth of information for access personnel and drawing praise not just from the Milwaukee-based facilities it targets, but throughout the Aurora network.

Kinder enforcement indicated for HIPAA EDI

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will use a complaint-driven process to enforce the transactions and code sets provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act after the Oct. 16 implementation deadline, and will focus on using voluntary compliance.

HIPAA likely standard for state privacy actions

Although the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act does not create a private right to sue health care workers who leak information, state laws do, says Stephen A. Frew, JD, a web site publisher and risk management consultant for Physicians Insurance Co. of Wisconsin in Madison. More importantly, Frew adds in a recent report, HIPAA probably will come to be the standard of care for these state actions.

News briefs

CMS makes changes to MSP regulations; Hospital credit downgrades said to be on the increase; Critical focus areas for random JCAHO surveys; Bedside patient education offered by Most Wired

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Intensify efforts at transaction compliance, HHS says

As the Oct. 16 deadline for covered entities to comply with HIPAAs electronic code set and transaction provisions approaches, organizations should be intensifying their efforts toward achieving compliance, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Is your facility using unprotected e-mails?

A survey by Dallas-based ZixCorp, a global provider of e-messaging management and protection services, indicates that many leading health care organizations are transmitting e-mail messages containing federally protected health information over public networks without using appropriate safeguards.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Physicians cautioned about paper claims

Physician practices considering going back to paper claims as a way of coping with the Oct. 16 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services deadline for transactions and code sets should resist the temptation, according to John Thomas, CEO of Dallas-based MedSynergies.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: JCAHO, NCQA certifying privacy compliance

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the National Committee for Quality Assurance have started a new Privacy Certification Program for Business Associates to assess whether organizations designated as business associates under HIPAA are meeting essential requirements for safeguarding personally identifiable health information.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: HIPAA does not block nursing home surveys

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says HIPAA privacy regulations dont negate requirements under the Social Security Act that the results of the most recent nursing home survey must be made available to the public.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Privacy requirements give researchers fits

Confusion in research circles over privacy requirements under HIPAA is seen in a flap at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, which sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services asking whether it could request patients permission to use their medical records for research.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Insurance policy to cover violations of HIPAA rules

A San Francisco insurer is offering health care providers what it says may be a first in underwriting a professional liability insurance policy specifically geared toward electronic-based and web-enabled transactions for health care operations. The policy might be especially useful in insuring against HIPAA violations, the company says.

Hospital Access Management – September 1, 2003

September 1, 2003