-
Nobody ever told me financial assistance was available." This is a typical comment from patients who are struggling to pay hospital bills, reports Jessica Curtis, JD, director of Boston-based Community Catalyst's Hospital Accountability Project, a national consumer advocacy organization focusing on healthcare issues.
-
Patients with large deductibles often feel patient access staff members are unreasonable to ask for the amount upfront, but what about the other side of the coin?
-
Access management services staff at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, provide each patient with the hospital's charity care and reduced charge charity care notices, but they go even further to be sure patients are informed of their options, says Kathy MacGillivray, MHA, access management services director.
-
Were suspicious documents provided for identification? Were credit monitoring reports received? Did others report suspicions about the validity of a patient's identify?
-
While state and federal law require that non-profit hospitals provide individuals with notice of the availability of free care, patients are often unaware, and not all hospitals are compliant or consistent, says Mia Poliquin Pross, Esq., associate director of Consumers for Affordable Health Care (CAHC) in Augusta, ME.
-
Turnover in a fast-paced emergency department environment often is higher than in other registration areas, acknowledges Jean Valenta, an admitting manager at St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis.
-
Emergency department registrars at St. Anthony's Medical Center (SAMC) in St. Louis have a new way to get answers to their most pressing questions: a newsletter created just for emergency department patient access staff called Inquiring Minds Want to Know.
-
At University of Utah Health Care in Salt Lake City, financial counseling is handled in two ways, depending on the complexity of the patient's question, says Katie Harwood, CHAM, admissions manager over financial advocates and ED registration.
-
Customers can obtain self-service at gas stations, airports, supermarkets, libraries, and retail stores, but not at the vast majority of hospital registration areas.
-
Registrars at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago don't typically have any problem giving patients accurate estimates, says Philip N. Quick, CHAM, manager of patient access & bed management that is, unless the benefit information their insurance company provides isn't correct.
