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When Lorene Payne, EdD, MSN, RN, CNE, a senior nursing instructor in the Nursing Professional Development Department at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, began work on her doctorate, she decided to focus on the question: "Are we as nursing professionals actually putting into practice the methods that help our patients best understand information even though many of them are low health literate?"
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To assess whether nurses practice teaching techniques to improve patient comprehension, they were asked how often they use these techniques "never," "rarely," "occasionally," "most of the time," and "always." Following is their responses:
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If a patient takes the time to complain about your patient access department or to give a compliment, listen closely.
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Your patient access staff are responsible for the patient's very first impression of the hospital.
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While some authorizations are straightforward, others can be complex and result in claims denials, according to Alicia Alampi, manager of patient access at St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse, NY.
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A certain group of experienced access representatives were chosen to participate in an emergency department (ED) copay collection pilot at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, CT, reports Margaret Trudel, patient access manager. This team was successful in substantially increasing copay collections in the ED.
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"I've already been asked for that information 100 times. Why are you asking me again?"
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Patient access staff at Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, MI, are assessed for customer service as part of the criteria for the hospital's bonus program, says Patti Burchett, director of registration and central scheduling.
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When patient access leaders at Cincinnati (OH) Children's Hospital Medical Center took a close look at multidisciplinary clinics, it was determined that many of them were collecting a single co-pay even when patients saw multiple providers, says Michelle Gray, MHA, director of patient access and outpatient registration.
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Registrars at Cincinnati (OH) Children's Hospital Medical Center now have an added incentive to obtain co-pays: It could determine the amount of their pay increase.
