Hospital Access Management – February 1, 2004
February 1, 2004
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Move to centralize specialty schedulers is boon to efficiency, customer service
When it came to streamlining the way patients, referring physicians, and other interested parties contact Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA, for various access-related services, it seems that one good idea led to another. -
Coverage for unfunded is access director’s specialty
If the front end would just get it right when the patient first comes in . . . goes the refrain from billers, or the CFO, or some other party focused on putting the blame for unreimbursed care at the feet of the access department. But when a substantial number of patients walk in without insurance coverage at the time of care or are emergency patients who dont have their insurance information with them, its not quite that simple. -
Guest Column: Why not more outsourcing? It’s about control
Its easy to make the case that many administrative transactions health organizations routinely handle in-house can be done better, faster, and more cost-effectively by outside vendors. Yet less than 1% of health organizations outsource all of their revenue cycle processes. -
New access career ladder adds incentive, fairness
Access personnel at the University Hospital of Arkansas in Little Rock can look forward to moving up a recently established career ladder that is boosting morale as well as paychecks. -
Access Feedback: Myriad laws specify treatment consent rule
Access departments are playing with fire if they dont consistently obtain consent for treatment before treatment is given, emphasizes Susan Baxley, corporate admitting manager for Sacramento, CA-based Adventist Health System. -
News Briefs
Study: Growth slows in health care spending; OIG seeks proposals for safe-harbor provisions; AHA survey shows hospital use rising; CMS publishes quality survey tool -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Privacy expert urges clarification for privacy regs
Health Privacy Project executive director Janlori Goldman said that while many glitches and misinterpretations of the HIPAA privacy regulation have been resolved, others remain and should be addressed by the Department of Health and Human Services or Congress. -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: The HIPAA privacy rule - Sorting myths from facts
In testimony late last year before the Department of Health and Human Services National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality, Health Privacy Project executive director Janlori Goldman submitted 13 common myths that persist about the HIPAA privacy regulation and the facts that respond to those myths. -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Hospitals having problems with privacy reg, AHA says
American Hospital Association attorney Lawrence Hughes said there are aspects of the privacy rule that still are not working well and are creating unnecessary burdens for hospitals, with little benefit to patients. -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Survey shows physicians not ready for HIPAA
Rhode Islands Seacrest DocSecurity surveyed more than 500 physicians nationwide late in 2003, questioning them on requirements that insurance companies ask for before underwriting physicians and hospitals for insurance, and concluded that while physicians generally believe they are HIPAA-compliant, in fact they have only met a portion of the HIPAA requirements, leaving them vulnerable to lawsuits. -
HIPAA Regulatory Alert: HIPAA Q&A
Does the security rule specify how a risk analysis must be conducted?; How should passwords be chosen to ensure security?; Can a home health agency post thank-you letters from patients on a bulletin board that can be seen by staff and other patients?