Access Management
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Department sees ‘record high of cash collections’ and fewer accounts receivable with these changes
In Fiscal Year 2014, patient access leaders at Bakersfield, CA-based Kern Medical Center reduced the billed accounts receivable (A/R) from $82,000 to $56,000. “And we didn’t simply write off the A/R,” reports Susan Labow, interim executive director of revenue cycle.
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Even integrated systems may need specialized revenue cycle software
Integrated systems can solve many dilemmas for patient access by creating work lists for error management and allowing staff to determine eligibility in real time.
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Integrated systems are top priority — Dramatically improve efficiency
It’s one of the biggest time-wasters in patient access: Employees are constantly switching back and forth between many different systems, just to do their jobs.
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Education, follow-up reduce readmissions
A pilot project providing coaching and follow up for heart failure (HF) patients who are readmitted frequently resulted in a 50% drop in the readmission rate at Indiana University (IU) Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, IN. -
Communicating with patients encouraged
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has launched an initiative with the Ad Council to encourage clinicians and patients to engage in effective two-way communication to ensure safer care and better health outcomes. -
Palliative care comprehension
Patients and caregivers are not often familiar with palliative care, or they misunderstand its purpose. Therefore, education on the reasons to make use of a multidisciplinary palliative care team and the benefits provided is important. -
For healthy behavior change, take the message into the community
In September 2011, world leaders held the first General Assembly at the United Nations to address chronic disease, which caused an estimated 36 million deaths world wide in 2008. -
Relevant messages made relevant
To reach the public with education messages, avoid lectures, says Barbara B. Mintz, MS, RD, assistant vice president of wellness at Newark (NJ) Beth Israel Medical Center. -
There is no need to reinvent the wheel
Technology is beneficial to people designing programs to impact the health behaviors of their patient population base, says Jason L. Bittle, community health improvement coordinator at Hanover (PA) Hospital Wellness and Education Center. -
Palliative care teams enhance education
Physicians and nurses helping patients learn to manage disease such as heart failure often have no time to talk about patients' preferences for care; if continued interventions are consistent with their goals, and what is hampering their quality of life.