Hospital Access Management – September 1, 2016
September 1, 2016
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Boost Collections by 120% or 634%? These Departments Have Done It
ED registrars at The Cooper Health System in Camden, NJ, recently began giving patients who are hospital employees a new option: to use one, two, or three payroll deductions to take care of their copays. This seemingly minor change gave revenue a major boost.
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Access Has College Faculty Train Collectors
A local community college was an unexpected source of help in improving cash collections at The Cooper Health System in Camden, NJ. Many hospital employees attend classes at the school.
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Registrars Receive Incentives of Up to $400 A Month — Others Receive Gift Cards, Movie Tickets
Collections have soared at North Chesapeake, VA-based Chesapeake Regional Healthcare since a monthly incentive program was added.
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Collections Totals Barely Slowed During EMR Switch
Melissa A. Salyer, CRCR, director of patient access at Chesapeake Regional Healthcare in North Chesapeake, VA, created a graphic to track results after the department’s point-of-service collections program was revamped.
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Skills Needed to ‘De-escalate’ Angry Patients
“I didn’t see it written anywhere before I was serviced that I would have a copay.”
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New Electronic Medical Record? Avoid ‘Traffic Jams’ in Registration Areas
Were the needs of patient access carefully considered in the planning process for a new electronic medical record? This step will determine if the registration process is “seamless or a traffic jam,” says Nancy A. Crehan, CHAM, director of patient access at Cambridge, MA-based Mount Auburn Hospital.
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Surgical Patients Wait One Hour Less With Revamped Registration
Due to a revamped registration process, surgical patients at Lakeland (FL) Regional Health Medical Center now arrive two hours prior to surgery, instead of three.
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Use Cross-Training to Cope With Sudden Surges in Patient Volume
Carlos Diaz says that even after 18 years in the field, he still sees employees viewing patient access as a “transient stepping stone to a career path.”
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Revamp Processes to Satisfy ‘Walk-Ins’
At CHI St. Luke’s Health – Lakeside and Springwoods Village Hospitals in Houston, the medical campus includes several office buildings with many physician practices. This campus layout means a large number of patients are unscheduled “walk-ins.”
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Choose Future Leaders with Care: For Some, It’s ‘Just Wrong’
It’s a mistake that Joseph Ianelli, MSW, MBA, has seen many times: Rewarding a loyal, long-term access employee with a promotion, despite the fact that the individual has no leadership skills.
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Does Applicant Claim, ‘I’m a People Person?’ Rely on Real-Life Experiences Instead
Two of the best hiring decisions he ever made in patient access “had absolutely zero healthcare experience,” says Bob Stearnes, CHFP, CHAM, a patient access leader who is based in Dallas.
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Health IT Certification Criteria Capture Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
The 2015 Health IT certification criteria include the capture of sexual orientation and gender identity in the demographics certification criteria, according to the National Association of Healthcare Access Management.
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HIPAA Risk Analysis Should Be Thorough And Helpful for Hospital’s Compliance
A risk analysis is fundamental to any HIPAA compliance program, but conducting one effectively can be a challenge. Too often, the risk analysis is a perfunctory task that lets you check off a requirement, when it should be a valuable tool that drives the rest of your compliance efforts.
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First Settlement with Business Associate Shows Focus of Office for Civil Rights
For the first time, the Office for Civil Rights has settled potential HIPAA violations with a business associate, and that settlement sheds light on how the government is assessing compliance.
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OCR: Ransomware Attack Is Usually a Data Breach
With ransomware attacks a continuing threat to hospitals and health systems, the Office for Civil Rights is warning that, in addition to all the other headaches, such incidents could be considered a data breach under HIPAA.
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Worker Fired in NFL Player Incident Sues Hospital
A secretary fired from Jackson Health System in Miami for accessing the medical record of New York Giants’ football player Jason Pierre-Paul is suing Miami-Dade County’s public hospital network. She claims she did not access the patient record and that the health system defamed and libeled her.