Hospital Access Management 2015-02-01

With Presumptive Eligibility, Millions Converted to Medicaid Coverage

In 2014, the patient access department at Genesis Health System used presumptive eligibility to convert almost $8 million in charges to Medicaid coverage.

Patient access ‘begs for lean principles’

"Lean” methodology is used for any quality improvement effort in registration areas at Kaleida Health in Buffalo, NY.

A Lean Methodology Improves Accuracy of Pre-arrival Information

Making patient access processes efficient begs for lean principles, says Louisville, KY-based Baptist Health.

Payer might claim ‘You never sent it!’ but patient access can prove otherwise

“You never sent it.” This response was all too common from payer representatives regarding clinical information that had been sent by registrars at Lawrence (MA) General Hospital.

Department boasts denial rate of just 0.10% even with more payer requirements

Despite increasing requirements from payers, the denial rate at Dublin-based Ohio Health is holding steady at just 0.10%.

Registrars use this script during pre-registration call

Below is sample scripting written for members of the patient access staff to handle pre-registration of patients at Huntsman Cancer Center, which is based in Salt Lake City, UT

Patients see access and clinical areas as one unit

You know that the real reason a patient had to wait an hour at registration is because the provider’s office didn’t send the order when they were supposed to. That reason makes no difference to the patient, however.

Patient access learned these lessons from registration QI project

At Virginia Mason Hospital and Seattle Medical Center, patient access leaders recently did a “kaizen” project involving registration.

Leaders in patient access department observed more than 100 registrations

When leaders in the Patient Family Experience department at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago learned that patient satisfaction scores were low in registration areas compared with industry benchmarks, they set out to find out why.

Negative consequences abound when nonprofits sue the poorest

Nonprofit hospitals receive a tax-exempt status based on their work to serve the poor by addressing their medical needs. However, the medical billing practices of hospitals recently were called into question by a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report, according to the National Association of Healthcare Access Management (NAHAM). (To view the report, go to http://1.usa.gov/1umJmpZ.)

Hospital Access Management – February 1, 2015

February 1, 2015