An Intranet application at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, DE, was developed specifically for patient access staff to improve registration accuracy.
A newsletter is an inexpensive, simple way to inspire some friendly competition to motivate your patient access staff. At Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, NC, the patient access department distributes a monthly newsletter featuring top performers for productivity and accuracy. Productivity is measured either by the number of accounts worked or registrations completed.
According to Richard J. Suszek, director of patient financial services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, the ED has been challenged to improve upfront collections in order to reduce bad debt and, also, to improve screening for Medicaid eligibility and financial assistance/charity care.
Increasingly often, patient access staff are put in a difficult position - talking about money with patients. "In today's economy, many people have lost their jobs and their health insurance," says Debby Cornett, RHIA, corporate director of patient access, transcription, and health information management at Jewish Hospital and St. Mary's HealthCare in Louisville, KY.
There is no doubt that an incentive program can result in increased upfront collections. There's also no question that it's more important than ever for patient access to get results.
