Hospital Access Management – May 1, 2004
May 1, 2004
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Access reaction is varied as government calls for discounts to uninsured patients
Encouragement from the Bush administration for hospitals to give discounts to uninsured patients and financially needy Medicare beneficiaries will have little impact, say some access professionals surveyed by Hospital Access Management, mostly because hospitals already give such discounts under the name of charity care and uncollectible bad debt. -
OIG offers guidance on hospital discounts
In response to suggestions that two laws enforced by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) may prevent hospitals from offering discounted prices to uninsured patients. The OIG discusses each law on its web site, www.oig.hhs.gov, as follows. -
Clinic for financially needy part of aid program
As part of the financial aid program at the New Orleans-based Touro Infirmary, there is a clinic for uninsured or underinsured patients, says Beth Keith, CHAM, director of patient business services. -
Hospitals required to offer free or discounted care
At least two state legislatures have taken action in recent weeks regarding free or discounted health care services for uninsured patients, according to reports in the on-line news service, AHA News Now. -
Hospital increases focus on customer service
An all-employee guest-relations program at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago aims to increase both the hospitals market share and its Press Ganey Associates patient satisfaction scores. -
Web site for access staff is ‘day-to-day’ resource
When access personnel at the University Hospital of Arkansas in Little Rock decided they would benefit from having their own resource web site, they sent the proposal to the information technology (IT) department, says Holly Jones, CHAM, a revenue integrity specialist (RIS) given the task of overseeing the project. -
Web sites suggest ways to push access boundaries
Access managers could benefit by stretching a bit beyond their boundaries and actively seeking participation in the clinical side of health care, suggests Karen McKinley, RN, CHAM, vice president of patient access and care management for Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA. -
News Brief: Report highlights provider shortage
Thirty-six million Americans do not have access to basic health care because they live in communities with an acute shortage of health care providers. -
HPII Regulatory Alert: Latest HIMSS survey shows slow compliance
The latest survey of 631 providers, payers, companies, and clearinghouses by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) indicates that as of mid-January, only half had completed testing for the Transaction and Code Standards (TCS), which standardized what information must be contained in electronic claims and how it should be transmitted. -
HPII Regulatory Alert: Workgroup urges patience on HIPAA compliance
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI), which advises the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on issues related to administrative simplification under HIPAA, says the agency should show continued patience as covered entities continue to make progress in implementation of the HIPAA transactions and code sets (TCS) requirements. -
HPII Regulatory Alert: Researchers: HIPAA may hurt outcomes studies
University of Michigan (UM) researchers said at the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology held March 7-10 in New Orleans that HIPAA has significantly affected their ability to study heart attack patients after they are discharged from the hospital. -
HPII Regulatory Alert: Possible incentive for physician compliance
A security consulting firm that is providing security risk assessment and compliance review services for small health care related businesses says one way to increase incentives for physicians to come into compliance with HIPAA requirements would be for malpractice insurers to offer reduced premiums to those who have done a risk assessment and are moving forward on implementation.