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Do you overhear registrars making remarks such as "We were slammed this morning!" or "We don't have enough staff today?" You'll need to re-evaluate your staffing levels to be sure the department is providing optimal coverage and customer service, says Kathleen Bowles, LSW, patient access supervisor at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.
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Suspected 'red flags' must be handled differently in the emergency department than other registration sites, according to Joyce L. Predmore, associate director of patient access services at Ohio State's University Hospital East in Columbus.
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If a worried and anxious patient or family member is kept waiting, it might help to convey the underlying reasons for delays in registration, treatment, or room placement, says Diane Manuel, director of patient access for admissions and the emergency department at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC.
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Some emergency department (ED) patients are destitute, drug-seeking, or have nowhere else to obtain care, and they might pass themselves off as others to obtain insurance coverage, says Marsha Kedigh, RN, MSM, director of admitting, emergency department registration, discharge station, and insurance management at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville.
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If you tell patients they owe their entire deductible of $2,000 for an inpatient procedure, and they know that $1,700 of the deductible already was met, your credibility and competence are suddenly in question.
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Since beginning a "financial advocacy initiative," Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago has seen nearly a 160% increase in its point-of-service (POS) collections.
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This has been a grand month so far. I had the pleasure of speaking at the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) meeting in Orlando in May and The Gulf States ASC Conference in Biloxi in June. I reacquainted with old friends and made new ones, and I gathered many months of ideas for my column.
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Patients gradually are becoming accustomed to being asked for payment upfront, according to Marcy Quattrochi, manager of financial counseling at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, IL.
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After tornados were reported in the area of Joplin, MO, in May, Jenny Morris, administrator of Stateline Surgery Center in Galena, KS, turned to the local television station.
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To improve patient safety by encouraging providers to speak up about their concerns, managers should focus on the influences that have the strongest effect on behavior, suggest the authors of The Silent Treatment, a report released by the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, and VitalSmarts, a training company in Provo, UT.
