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Use Patients’ Names 3 Times During Every Registration
Using input from patient surveys and advisory meetings, the patient access department at an Indiana-based facility recently made some changes in how registrars interact with patients. All were designed to improve customer service.
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The Value of Providing Financial Information to Patients Much Sooner
Registration and scheduling soon will combine at one Massachusetts center. Coverage will be verified at the same time the service is scheduled. A real-time eligibility tool, built into the scheduling and registration systems, will allow for this. This gives patients something they clearly want: to be fully informed upfront.
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Thank-you Notes, Christmas Cards, and Patient Loyalty
A medical center in Alabama wanted to gather more specific patient feedback. Patient access leaders created an observation form that lists specific behaviors for supervisors to look for, such as making eye contact and greeting patients by name, and crafted more detailed questions for patients.
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The Key to MSPQ Success? Stop Asking ‘Dumb’ Questions
An insider highlights tricky questions and offers alternatives for registrars to help minimize frustration for all parties.
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The MSPQ Chess Match: No Conversations Alike
There is a perpetual conflict between speed and accuracy vs. service. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the Medicare as Secondary Payer Questionnaire, what one experts calls "at best, a clumsy document" that confuses and frustrates patients and healthcare providers alike.
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Turnover Persists in Patient Access
Low pay is just one reason registrars decide to resign shortly after the hospital invests time and money in their training. Low morale is equally important. The biggest reason people leave the job is they just get frustrated.
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Limb Ischemia and Gangrene
Although many cases of extremity pain are the result of mild, self-limited issues, ischemia and gangrene are catastrophic causes of pain that initially can present with nondescript findings. To limit tissue loss and optimize patient outcomes, emergency physicians must be able to distinguish benign limb pain from the earliest stages of high-risk, life- and limb-threatening disease.
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Claims Allege Life-saving Information Was Hiding in Plain Sight
The patient history, labs, and radiology — that was the extent of the information available to EPs historically. EPs argue they do not have time to hunt for every possible piece of information that could have prevented a bad outcome. But that is beside the point when lawyers get involved. Critical information might be hiding in plain sight. Modules used by pathology or radiology are not always easily accessible, but ED providers should not expect a jury to be too sympathetic to this dilemma.
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Poor Nurse-EP Communication Pits Hospital Against EP
Conflicting deposition testimony bolsters any medical malpractice case. Communication gaps between EPs and ED nurses often become a central issue during malpractice litigation. Conflict over what, if anything, nurses communicated to the EP works to the plaintiff’s benefit.
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A Deeper Exploration of How ED Nurses Triage
Triage practices vary widely among emergency nurses and within EDs, according to the authors of a recent study. Researchers conducted focus group interviews with 26 ED nurses. ED nurses reported a pervasiveness of “quick look” triage techniques, which do not rely on physiologic data, to make acuity decisions. Participants described processes that were manipulations of the triage system to “fix” problems in ED flow rather than a standard application of a triage system.