POS collections started at 0 and are now $4.5 million
POS collections started at 0 and are now $4.5 million
It was done without incentives
Just five years ago, patient access employees at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle weren’t collecting anything from patients at all. This year, collections in the emergency department topped $4.5 million.
“We just had to get the right buy-in to be able to do it,” says Donna Aasheim, CHAM, director of patient access services. “We weren’t collecting, and all of a sudden we were. Now, it’s second nature.”
When point-of-service (POS) collections first started in 2008, motivating staff was a key concern, because cash incentives weren’t an option. “As a state hospital, we can’t set up any monetary compensation for the staff. So we have to be really creative,” Aasheim says. A recent “Knock Your Socks Off” initiative awarded brightly colored socks stuffed with candy and small gift cards to top collectors. Aasheim periodically rewards her staff with breakfast, lunches, and movie tickets.
“Our surgical unit was one of the collection challenges. Now it’s just part of their routine, and they are very successful,” she says. Next, collection was rolled out in the clinics, which ask patients for co-payments as well as a self-pay deposit for patients who don’t have insurance and aren’t eligible for Medicaid or charity.
“In surgical services, point-of-service collections average over $100,000 per month,” reports Aasheim. “The UW clinics average over $200,000 per month, with well over 2,800 transactions.” The department took these steps to reach these goals:
• Supervisors spent a lot of time meeting one-on-one with staff members. They introduced new scripting and did role playing during staff meetings about how to collect.
• Supervisors worked shifts alongside staff, so they could observe how staff asked for copays and provide tips to improve collections.
• Because the department was switching to a new system, leaders made a point of ensuring collections were going smoothly before going live with it.
“This way, the new system couldn’t be an excuse not to collect,” Aasheim says.
• Aasheim met with the ED director and hospital administrators to show them the potential of what could be collected in copayments at the time of service.
“I really encouraged them to give their support,” Aasheim says. “It’s a huge show stopper if too many people have input, so I didn’t ask for their permission. I just let them know we were going to do it, and we just went for it.”
• Patient access managers address concerns from clinical staff directly.
When some clinical staff told registrars that they shouldn’t be asking patients for money, Aasheim told her staff members to refer these concerns directly to her.
“I explained that on the contractual side, we are obligated to collect the patient’s copay at the time of service,” she says. “These are different times now. Sending a bill for a copay costs almost as much as the copay. If we can get that upfront, we don’t have those costs.”
• Supervisors post the names of top collectors on a bulletin board, and staff members continually scan it to see where they’re falling.
A few registrars were reluctant to collect at first, but most now continually scan the list to see where they’re falling.
“They don’t like seeing their name on the bottom of the list,” Aasheim says. “If they hear someone is a top collector at the staff meeting, it fires them up to be on the top of the list.”
Source
For more information on point-of-service collections, contact:
• Donna Aasheim, CHAM, Director, Patient Access Services, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle. Phone: (206) 598-5907. Email: [email protected].
Just five years ago, patient access employees at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle werent collecting anything from patients at all. This year, collections in the emergency department topped $4.5 million.Subscribe Now for Access
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