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Keep patients satisfied, even if waits are long

While you wish that no patient ever had to wait in any registration area, that's not realistic due to patient volumes and other factors beyond the control of your department.

Turn positive satisfaction info into morale-boosters

If you want to see how satisfied your customers are, some type of survey is probably the tool you rely on. Kathleen Bowles, a hospital admitting supervisor at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, says that patient satisfaction scores "are a concrete reflection of our efforts, that everyone in the department can understand."

Address these concerns before offering incentives

Access departments struggling with dwindling cash collections may find that some simple incentives can work wonders. On the other hand, there are some potential pitfalls to consider.

Get better results with scripting, role-playing

Registrars at Kettering Health Network in Dayton, OH, reported feeling very uncomfortable with certain 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HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Don't wait: Start reviewing BA agreements now

Although business associates are now subject to compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule and the use and disclosure provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, as a result of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, hospitals should not assume business associates are taking steps to ensure their compliance.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Access, not use, of PHI results in conviction

Four months in prison and a $2,000 fine to Huping Zhou, a 47-year-old cardiothoracic surgeon from China and a UCLA health care system employee, for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) should be a cause for concern for hospitals.

HIPAA Regulatory Alert: Health care breach list tops 160

Hospitals and provider networks lead the list of health care entities reporting breaches of unsecured protected health information (PHI), according to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) breach notification website, which lists 166 entities as of Sept. 30.

ED tracks criteria, ties quality to credentialing

"We look at a variety of things as most departments do, but I think we're trying to collect some data that there aren't good benchmarks for and can have significant variability from institution to institution or at least trying to look at our [department] numbers... to compare ourselves to our colleagues here at the hospital.

IHI releases guidance on disclosing adverse events to patients, families

"The good news is, I see hospitals all over the country, and a lot of them are doing a dramatically better job in disclosures.

Criteria-based privileges: What, why, and how

(Editor's note: In this issue, we will deal with determination of the scope of services that an organization decides to provide. Future issues will deal with steps 2-4 of privileging.)