Recent Articles
Care Card technology improves health system’s patient flow and waiting time
At Heritage Valley Health System in Beaver, PA, patient flow was a major concern, as it has been for many facilities nationwide.
The facility was well aware of the long process patients had to go through to be seen by a physician. In 2006, it implemented electronic kiosks along with a Care Card to help the registration process move more efficiently and maintain constant patient flow.
"Modeled in part on successful implementations in both the airline and hospitality industries, the board and senior management of Heritage Valley developed a strategic plan for enabling and promoting greater consumer participation in the healthcare process through various self-service initiatives," says Robert Swaskoski, director of enterprise resource systems at HVHS.
Read the full story by HealthLeaders Media’s Sarah Kearns.
MedicareFind.com launches
HCPro, Inc. is pleased to announce it has launched MedicareFind.com. MedicareFind is a new regulatory database product that allows you to easily find Medicare-related source authorities. You can sort by date and also check just certain years, document types (e.g., transmittals), or sources of information (e.g., OIG, CMS).
Patient access managers may want to check out our “EasyFind” link to ABN-related documents.
You can also read analysis of recent Medicare-related regulations and tips for using the new MedicareFind site on the MedicareMentor Blog -- http://blogs.hcpro.com/medicarefind/
Patient access leaders must remain flexible in difficult economy
Sometimes, your health information managers need to code. And your patient access managers need to register patients.
In these tough economic times, your hospital staff members should be ready for different roles on any given day. No one is immune to change.
At Albany (NY) Medical Center, managers in the patient access department are prepared to handle staff shortages.
During a recent string of illnesses and consecutive days with short staffs, department leaders took off their managers' hats and got on the frontline to register patients.
"The leadership team are working managers, much like any other patient access area," says Cathy Pallozzi, CHAM, patient access director at Albany Medical, noting the staff recently experienced colds and GI, which sprang the managers to action. "So the managers are on the front end, as well as the associate director. If I am needed, I will be on the front end as well."
Read the full story by HealthLeaders Media’s Dom Nicastro.
Get staff members to know HIPAA
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes many changes for HIPAA.
Your patient access staff members should know them.
Here’s a white paper to help them get started:
Have a RAC question? CMS has some answers
Although none of the newest Recovery Audit Contractor FAQs released by CMS—it published 15 in the last two weeks—is particularly surprising, they are perhaps a sign that CMS is continuing to make every effort to share RAC information providers need to know, through as many channels as possible.
It may be sharing the same information during RAC outreach sessions or during Open Door Forum calls, but now the information is also readily available to those who wish to learn about RACs in a Q&A format.
Read the full report by Andrea Kraynak for HealthLeaders Media.
From HFMA: Five ways leaders fail
Editor’s note: The following is a passage on www.healthleadersmedia.com from Philip Betbeze, who attended the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s annual conference last week in Seattle.
Keynote speaker, Patrick Lencioni, kicked off the opening weekday, speaking about Leadership.
Lencioni often works with hospitals to adopt ideas around teamwork. Now, it's more important than ever in these difficult economic times, when everyone is expected to do more with less. He gave us five ways leaders often mess up their teams. Pay attention. I've definitely been on some bad teams and some good ones, and this guy has it right:
1. The absence of trust: Most think about predictive trust, which means we have known each other long enough I can predict your behavior. But that's not what makes a team great. The team we need is based on vulnerability. Vulnerability-based trust happens when human beings on team say things like "I don't know the answer," or, "I think I need help; I think I screwed this up," or even "I'm sorry." When you have that dynamic on team it creates powerful competitive advantage. Vulnerability can never be faked.
2. Fear of conflict: Why don't people like to engage in conflict? They say they don't want to hurt people's feelings. Organizations that think conflict is bad crush people because it ends up as a conflict of people and not issues.
3. Lack of commitment: When we can't get people to debate, people won't commit. If people don't weigh in on a decision they won't buy in on a decision. Truth is if we want to get people to commit we need to make sure we are hearing people and their opinions. My job as leader is to make sure I know what everyone thinks, and if that takes time then so be it and if there is not consensus then it is my job to break the tie. When you can do that, hear everyone, and factor in their input, 99 times out of 100 they will support the decision even if they disagree.
4. Avoidance of accountability: This is the most common and most dangerous of all the dysfunctions. When you walk out of meeting and know that person next to you didn't commit, how much courage will you have to hold them accountable? The thought of letting down a trusted colleague is the biggest motivator. They love their teammates. You find it in firefighters and police. The best teams play for one another.
5. Results: Pay attention to results of team rather than individual needs. You have to make sure you do the best for the hospital, not the department. When there are silos at the top of the organization, they suffer the most. The most important priority is the collective results of the organization.
Read Betbeze’s full report on HealthLeaders Media’s Web site.
Sample survey to patients
I am looking for a sample survey to give to patients. I need feedback to have continuous improvement.
Is anyone willing to share the survey tool they are using?
Carole L. Sraver
Director, Patient Access
Washington Adventist Hospital
Patient access teams get financially smart in a tight economy
Hospitals can't escape layoffs these days, and they're not adding many jobs any time soon.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday say hospitals added only 300 payroll jobs across the entire nation, compared to 16,800 jobs in May 2008, and 8,700 jobs in May 2007.
So what are hospitals doing about it, especially on the front end where accurate registrations and upfront collections can mean the difference between a denial and a full return on a patient bill?
They are getting smarter, more technologically savvy, and analyzing their payer mix and what each entity requires.
Read the full story by HealthLeaders Media's Dom Nicastro.
Take our survey; Be part of a comprehensive look at national RAC preparedness
We invite you to take our comprehensive survey on what your facility is doing to prepare for the permanent RAC program. It should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
We value your input and appreciate your time and effort in completing this anonymous survey. As a thank you, we will be happy to send you our completed benchmarking report detailing the results of the survey. To receive your free copy of the benchmarking report, you will have the opportunity to separately request one upon completion of the survey. Thank you for your time and consideration.
To participate in the survey, click here.
CMS updates RAC audit timeline: complex reviews still months away
CMS anticipates Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) automated reviews will begin in late June and July, according to Marie Casey, deputy director of the Division of Recovery Audit Operations at CMS. However, this is not set in stone, she says, noting, "there is some leeway."
But complex reviews won't begin until later, says Casey. CMS is aiming to begin certain types of complex reviews (e.g., coding and DRG validation) this fall. However, medical necessity complex reviews won't begin until early 2010.
The nature of automated reviews is simpler on the whole, she says, making them an easier choice to roll out first. "The automated reviews are less burdensome on the provider, because there's no request for medical records," says Casey, adding that automated reviews are also easier on the RACs themselves to manage.
Read the full story by Andrea Kraynak of HealthLeaders Media.