Technology tools you must have
Technology tools you must have
Thirty years ago, the Master Patient Index (MPI) used by a hospital's registration and admitting department typically was maintained by medical records.
"This meant that each time we needed a medical record number assigned, we had to call medical records for them to manually look up the number or to assign a new one," says John Woerly, RHIA, CHAM, FHAM, a senior manager at Accenture Health Practice, an Indianapolis-based firm that provides technology and consulting services.
Only a handful of hospitals had centralized patient scheduling a new idea at the time and insurance benefits were verified by calling the payer and manually recording data in the patient database, says Woerly. "We basically had a simple telephone to answer calls with and make calls. No sophisticated Customer Relationship Management in those days!" says Woerly. "Now, technology is everywhere."
Woerly says that some of the cutting-edge technologies being used by today's access departments are web-based technology to allow patients to schedule their own appointments, access their own medical records, request referrals, pre-register and pay liabilities, and patient liability estimators to provide patients with charges. Here is the technology that most of today's patient access departments are using, according to Woerly:
Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI).
This technology assigns patients, insurance plans, and care providers with unique identifiers such as regional or enterprise-wide, and maintains a cross-reference of local identifiers from each participating facility. "It can also store patient demographic, insurance, and high-level visit history data," says Woerly.
Enterprise scheduling.
This technology allows patient appointments and resources to be scheduled from a single application for such areas as hospital, physician, ancillary departments, and home health. "Systems integrate into the EMPI for access to single-source enterprise patient data and seamlessly integrate with electronic payer connectivity, registration, referral management, and medical necessity checking systems," says Woerly.
Electronic insurance verification.
This system allows a network of participating payer organizations to be queried, via real-time or batch, to verify a patient's eligibility and benefit coverage. "Most systems auto-populate within the patient's record," adds Woerly.
Document imaging/scanning.
"This is an information capture and retrieval system that stores patient-centric documents and allows immediate, simultaneous access from multiple locations," says Woerly.
Workflow management tools.
This tool organizes work by "pushing" role-appropriate online work lists to staff resources in all work phases, such as financial clearance, referral management, registration, and financial counseling. "It organizes and drives work, while reporting on performance indicators," says Woerly.
Bed management systems.
This technology provides an online "bed board" that shows bed needs for outpatient surgery, emergency department, and other sites, and integrates transport requests, housekeeping workflow, and dietary workflow.
Customer relationship management.
"This uses a combination of people, process, and technology to provide a host of reporting tools, including patient-specific relationship data," says Woerly.
Thirty years ago, the Master Patient Index (MPI) used by a hospital's registration and admitting department typically was maintained by medical records.Subscribe Now for Access
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