Hospital Access Management 2005-09-01

Patients give hospital heads-up: It’s time for on-line registration

It became very clear that customers of Dayton, OH-based Kettering Medical Center Network were ready for on-line registration soon after the hospital network began testing the process in August 2004, says the director of patient registration and central scheduling.

Publicity and planning drives on-line reg success

Marketing and advance planning were the keys to success when Memphis, TN-based Baptist Memorial Health Care began offering its patients on-line registration, says the corporate director of access operations.

Shelter with follow-up care helps homeless

An innovative homeless shelter — where people who need post-discharge medical care are allowed to stay 24-hours a day — is freeing up hospital beds for more acute patients and providing ongoing benefits to individuals who typically access the health care system only through the emergency department.

Collaborative spirit marks success of eOrder pilot

Cooperation and collaboration have been the keys to success in the trial run of a new process for screening orders for medical necessity at the point of care — in the physician’s office — and electronically sending them to the hospital, says the manager of the same-day surgery and presurgical testing departments at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, IL.

Could ‘bankruptcy bill’ help hospitals get paid?

A “bankruptcy bill” signed into law in April will make it harder for consumers to shield their assets and avoid paying off medical bills and other debt, according to some industry observers.

Wisconsin EMTALA case offers take-home points

A recent decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court involving the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) offers several take-home points for access managers and others charged with overseeing emergency department operations, says Stephen A. Frew, JD, a risk management attorney and web site publisher.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Ruling on criminal prosecution under HIPAA raises furor

A Department of Justice legal opinion, issued at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, stated that only covered entities and those people rendered accountable by general principles of corporate criminal liability may be prosecuted under criminal enforcement provisions of the HIPAA Administrative Simplification section.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Hospitals don’t want fined entities identified

The American Hospital Association says it is “troubled” by a Department of Health and Human Services plan to publicize the identity of those covered entities given civil monetary penalties under enforcement of HIPAA’s administrative simplification section.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Transaction standard is far from projected uniformity

The HIPAA transaction standards have not resulted in the uniformity and efficiency envisioned when HIPAA was adopted. That’s the opinion of the HIPAA Implementation Working Group, which were presented in testimony to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.

Hospital Access Management – September 1, 2005

September 1, 2005