The clinician has just reviewed instructions on proper oral contraceptive (OC) use with the patient, a 22-year-old mother of three. He asks if there any questions and sends her to the front desk with a supply of pill packs and written instructions. But how does he know she received the information she needs to take her pills properly?
This is a two-part series on patient identification processes used by patient access departments. Inside, we cover processes used to verify a patient's identity, the expected impact of healthcare reform, and how to involve patients in the process. Next month, we'll report on new biometric technology being implemented by a growing number of hospitals.
Patient access staff at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver rely on patient identifiers to prevent identity theft and ask for identification at every visit, whether it's a scheduled appointment or an ER visit, says Roxana Newton, CHAA, patient registration and central scheduling supervisor.
Occasionally, individuals pose as others to "share" insurance coverage with family members or friends, reports Jane Gray, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA, assistant vice president for the revenue cycle at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon. In one such case, the medical records of a woman who delivered a full-term baby showed she had a full term delivery just three months earlier.
At Medical College of Central Georgia in Macon, the Care Partners Program offers financial assistance for chronically ill patients in order to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, says Jane Gray, CPA, FACHE, FHFMA, assistant vice president for the revenue cycle.
At Catholic Health Initiatives in Lincoln, NE, the patient access department is forming a workgroup to do a better job of helping patients with financial counseling at the time of their emergency department (ED) visit, says Lauree M. Miller, director of patient access.
If you want to increase point of service collections in the emergency department (ED), communication with clinical staff is the key, says Lauree M. Miller, director of patient access at Catholic Health Initiatives in Lincoln, NE.
At Fairview Northland Health Services in Princeton, MN, when patients learn they will have a large out-of-pocket responsibility, patient access staff work with them to explain their payment options, says Steph Collins, manager of patient access.
Fines of $4.3 million for Maryland-based Cignet Health and $1 million for Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston should give hospital staff reason to take notice of the stricter enforcement and higher fines included in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
Even before headlines highlighted large fines for HIPAA violations, the compliance department at New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center in New York City decided to be proactive to meet the enhanced requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
