Hospital Access Management – March 1, 2012
March 1, 2012
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Will healthcare reform mean more or less revenue for access?
Will changes in patient coverage due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) mean less revenue for your organization, more opportunities for patient access, or both? -
Take steps now to prevent revenue loss
Regardless of whether patients are covered by a commercial carrier, an employer group, or a combination of both, new processes are needed for patient access areas, says Gail Draper, director of clinic support services at University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics in Salt Lake City. -
Payer changes call for new access skills
Patient access staff members at University of California Los Angeles Health System are using several newly implemented automated tools to keep up with payer requirements. -
Revamp patient access now: Reform in 2014
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is implemented in 2014, "not only is our patient volume going to expand, but our role in patient access is also going to expand," predicts Michael F. Sciarabba, MPH, CHAM, director of patient access services at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. -
These 4 changes are already in place
Some of the requirements in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) already have been implemented and have changed patient access processes, notes Michael F. Sciarabba, MPH, CHAM, director of patient access services at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. -
Payer mix soon will be more complex
Within one year, the patient access department at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, a 408-bed hospital in Chicago, reduced denials due to no benefit coverage and no authorization by 30%. -
POS collections up by 170% in 2 years
Total point-of-service (POS) collections went from $650,000 in 2009 to $1.5 million by the end of 2011 at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. -
Verify insurance without costly delays
Registrars at UK HealthCare in Lexington, KY, have had great success using a real-time insurance verification tool, reports Courtney M. Higdon, director of enterprise patient access services. -
Utilize access staff in multiple areas
At Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia, SC, the admissions department's career ladder program requires cross-training in four admissions areas, financial counseling, and patient accounts. -
Preceptors decrease overtime costs
A preceptor program implemented in 2010 at Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia, SC, "has impacted our employee retention tremendously," reports Ebony Seymour, CHAM, patient access manager. The estimated cost for training a new hire is about $5,000, including the salary of the education and training specialist. -
One person handles all needs of patient
If a patient was coming in for a scheduled procedure at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI, he or she would receive 2-5 calls on average from various employees. -
Happier patients drive future volume
Previously, some scheduled surgery patients failed to return phone calls because they had just spoken to someone at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI. -
Process for orders is patient friendly
Provider's offices are no longer the "middleman" between schedulers and patients at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI, due to a newly implemented process. -
Train others to fill in for access
Obtaining an authorization for a patient's series of chemotherapy visits is no longer enough, says Mollie Drake, corporate director of access at Scripps Health in San Diego. -
'One call does it all' for patients
In September 2011, the pre-registration, pre-authorization and insurance verification functions were centralized for four of the seven facilities that are part of Peoria, IL-based OSF HealthCare, reports Stacey Boland, director of patient access. -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Data breaches attributed to business associates increase
Three scenarios that no hospital security or privacy officer wants to experience: -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: BA 'must haves' for privacy, security
A hospital privacy and security compliance officer knows exactly what policies and programs within the organization are designed to protect patient information (PHI), but what should be expected of a business associate (BA)? -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Study: Breaches of data up 32%
The second annual benchmark study by Ponemon Institute in Traverse City, MI, sponsored by ID Experts, finds that the frequency of data breaches in healthcare organizations surveyed has increased by 32%.