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After Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan began a heart failure readmission prevention program, its 30-day readmission rate dropped to an average of 13%. In January, the hospital discharged 62 heart failure patients and only 8% were readmitted.
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At Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, FL, a throughput initiative that uses colored magnets to indicate anticipated discharges has cut emergency department holding time and increased the number of discharges by 2 p.m.
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As outbreaks continue to be reported due to unsafe injection practices and improper use of medication vials, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is telling its surveyors to contact public health departments immediately if they see such flagrant breaches of infection control.
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Case managers should know their patients insurance benefits and out-of-pocket expenses when they develop a discharge plan to make sure the patient can afford the plan they are putting in place.
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Patient access employees are responsible for knowing the general policies and procedures of the hospital, emphasizes Angela Click, patient access services manager at OSF St Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, IL.
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Patients rely on patient access employees to inform them of out-of-pocket costs, but accurate estimates are challenging to give. This challenge is due to changes in what is done clinically, provider contracts, patient co-morbidities, and the complexity of coverage.
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Patient access leaders should expect surveyors from The Joint Commission or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to interact directly with front-line staff in registration areas.
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How do you protect a patients privacy? Some patient access employees get a deer-in-the-headlights look when surveyors ask this simple question, says Michael Sciarabba, MPH, CHAM, director of patient access at University of California, San Francisco.
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If providers fail to keep automated price estimators up-to-date on contract terms and historical claims, incorrect estimates will occur.
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Emergency department (ED) collections more than doubled with a quality assurance tool at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and a check-out process allowed ED registrars at University of Utah Hospital to collect $295,000 in FY 2014. They now increase ED collection goals between 5% and 10% each year.
