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Solutions such as the CarePages designed by Chicago-based TLContact are modern-day ways of expressing concern about people who are ill or undergoing surgery. But while people don’t send cards to patients as much as they used to, notes the senior director of access services at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, there is still a sizable flow of personal mail arriving at hospitals that must be dealt with.
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Several hundred hospitals throughout the country are now giving patients and their families the opportunity to set up “CarePages” that allow them to send updates on the patient’s condition over the Internet and receive messages in return.
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The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock has been on an upward trend in registration accuracy since 2000, thanks to continuous tweaking of its education program and improved auditing methods by the access department’s revenue integrity specialist team.
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Under the banner of a comprehensive initiative called “Operational Excellence,” employees at Portland, OR-based Providence Health System are working to help their organization meet its strategic goals, says Nancy Roberts, regional director for integrated performance and Six Sigma champion.
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Providence Health System is pulling out all the stops as it focuses this year and next on improving patient throughput at its three Portland, OR-area hospitals, says Kathy Campbell, black belt project manager for health services integration.
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While Providence Health System has used such methods as measuring length of stay and focusing on “discharge by 11” to improve patient throughput, a recent Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) “call around” offered some new food for thought on the subject.
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Hospitals may safely upgrade the patient acuity classifications of their emergency department triage systems, but they cannot downgrade them, for fear of violating the requirements of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
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A recent decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court involving the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) offers several take-home points for access managers and others charged with overseeing emergency department operations, says Stephen A. Frew, JD, a risk management attorney and web site publisher.
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A “bankruptcy bill” signed into law in April will make it harder for consumers to shield their assets and avoid paying off medical bills and other debt, according to some industry observers.
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The HIPAA transaction standards have not resulted in the uniformity and efficiency envisioned when HIPAA was adopted. That’s the opinion of the HIPAA Implementation Working Group, which were presented in testimony to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.