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Two years ago, patient access leaders at Hackensack (NJ) University Medical Center "had everyone doing everything," says Anne Goodwill Pritchett, MPA, FHFMA, vice president of patient financial services. "We found that for us, that was not the best way to do it."
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The initial notice of audit from the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) asks for a significant amount of documentation and information to be submitted within 10 days of the notice date, but that will not be the end of information for which you'll be asked, says Mac McMillan, chief executive officer of CynergisTek, an information technology security consulting company, who advised a Texas hospital included in the initial audits.
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A new pre-arrival unit at University of Mississippi Health Care in Clinton has revamped the authorization process for services that are pending authorization, reports Sylvia Greer, MBA, associate director of revenue cycle management. The hospital has obtained $150 million in revenue for reimbursable services, she adds, many of which would have otherwise been denied by payers.
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mbulatory surgery providers looking for ways to prevent miscommunication and improve their internal and external patient handoffs now have a free, proven tool to make their job easier.
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Aaaahhhh. The survey is over. "I don' t have to worry about this for another two and one-half years," you might think.
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New reports issued in 2012 by the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement offer performance measurement and benchmarking data for four of the most common outpatient procedures: cataract surgery, colonoscopy, low back injection, and knee arthroscopy.
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New comprehensive guidelines for the preoperative care of elderly patients have been issued by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Geriatrics Society (AGS).
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Healthcare facilities have been put on alert to recognize fatigue among workers as a risk to patient safety. But for now, facilities won't face any regulatory consequences for failing to address it.
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The Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) is focusing on unsafe injection practices, and it points out that according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these practices have caused more than 50 outbreaks of bloodborne diseases in the past 10 years.1 More than 600 patients were infected, according to the CDC.
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Peer pressure. The problem isn't limited to middle and high schools across America. In fact, the problem has infiltrated outpatient surgery programs across the country as surgeons and other staff members pressure the central sterile supply (CSS) technicians to sterilize instruments quickly.