Hospital Management Topics
RSSArticles
-
Patient Access Makes Progress Toward Fully Automated Auths
It takes creativity and time to fully automate, but the dividends make this a worthy effort.
-
New Best Practices for Resolving Patients’ Medical Bills
The last thing patients need in today's climate is to deal with spiteful lawsuits and haranguing collection agencies. Recently released guidance can help patient access be helpful partners for those who need to settle medical bills.
-
Most Insured Adults Know Little About Their Coverage
Patient access staff can safely assume that almost everyone needs an explanation of their coverage. That starts with even basic terms like co-insurance, provider network, and deductible.
-
Basic Coding Knowledge Allows Patient Access to Stop Denials
Inaccurate coding causes compliance issues, more denials, lost revenue, and negative patient experiences. More precise and accurate information from the onset sets the stage for correct billing, cleaner claims, and fewer denials.
-
Use Personalized Calls, Transport Services to End No-Shows
Everyone forgets an appointment now and then. With some patience and persistence, registrars can prevent chronic no-shows.
-
When Insurers Will Not Pay for Service Performed at a Hospital
It is not enough anymore to demonstrate that a surgery or imaging test is medically necessary. To receive reimbursement from health plans, patient access staff also must prove it is necessary for the procedure to happen at a hospital.
-
Report Links ED Boarding to Worse Clinical Outcomes
Some hospitals have found a novel solution in the form of resuscitative care units, which are ICUs based in EDs. Patients who need time-sensitive respiratory, metabolic, neurologic, or hemodynamic critical care can receive it in the ED. This prevents these patients from waiting so long for a bed to finally open in the appropriate specialty ICU.
-
Angry Encounters Can Adversely Affect Clinical Decision-Making
A patient screams and spits at the emergency physician and nurse who are trying to determine if a life-threatening emergency exists. Another patient is extremely grateful, cooperative, and respectful. Assuming both patients presented with the exact same clinical situation, would ED providers treat them any differently? The authors of two recent studies examined this interesting question.
-
COVID-19 May Be Affecting Nursing Discipline, But No Data Yet
There is some concern about whether the healthcare industry’s response to COVID-19 will affect the way it addresses concerns about nursing performance, similar to recent concerns about an apparent drop in physician discipline since the pandemic began. So far, data related to nursing discipline are not showing any decline.
-
Improved ICU Physician Staffing Leads to Better Safety Grade
When Doylestown Hospital in Pennsylvania received a C on the Spring 2016 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, leaders launched a campaign to improve patient safety. A central tactic was adapting its staffing model to meet Leapfrog’s ICU Physician Staffing criteria.