A lead emergency department registrar position was created at Swedish Covenant Hospital, in order to improve collections in this challenging patient population, says Rose Jeanfreau, director of patient access Services at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago.
Training and education costs are often the first items on the "chopping block" when it's time for budget cuts at hospitals, which is bad news for patient access.
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.
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.
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.