Hospital Access Management articles from August 2004

Hospital Access Management archives from August 2004

Team approach produces dramatic reduction in denials: collaboration depends on 'atmosphere of trust'.(St. Helena Hospital, California)
August 1, 2004... As the newly hired patient financial services director at St. Helena Hospital in Deer Park, CA, Kim Meredith was ready to put her focus on reducing the institution's denial rate. Looking at some of the reasons for those denials, Meredith...

OTC collections boosted with 'enthusiasm of sports': hospital leads 20-facility system in collections.(over-the-counter cash)(St. Helena Hospital, California)
August 1, 2004... When Peggy O'Neill, admitting director for St. Helena Hospital in Deer Park, CA, began tackling the improvements involved in a major restructuring of the admitting department, she looked first at the bottom line. Very aware of the 18 new...

Lawsuits unwarranted, says hospital industry: hospitals already taking action.(non profit hospitals under trail by federal courts)
August 1, 2004... About 18 not-for-profit hospitals in 15 states have been hit with class-action lawsuits filed in federal courts challenging their tax-exempt status as charity institutions. The suits state a breach of contract based on an explicit or implicit...

Customer service exercises add spice to staff meetings: bored faces disappear and attendance goes up.(University of Pennsylvania Medical Center)
August 1, 2004... When the patient access department at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center-Presbyterian in Philadelphia has its monthly staff meeting these days, there's an added attraction. After the insurance updates, schedule changes, and other...

ED volunteers help with patient communication: program benefits students, patients, and hospital.(emergency departments)(Baptist Memorial Health Care)
August 1, 2004... The third stage of an ambitious campaign aimed at streamlining emergency department (ED) operations gets under way this month as Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, TN, begins recruiting members for a new ED volunteer corps. What's...

82 million Americans uninsured in 2002-2003.(survey report)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Nearly 82 million Americans younger than 65 went without health insurance for all or part of 2002 and 2003, according to a report released recently by Families USA. About half of them were uninsured for nine months or more, and two-thirds...

Many health care organizations still remain a long way from security compliance: URAC identifies four barriers to meeting security demands.(Utilization Review Accreditation Commission)
August 1, 2004... Even though less than a year remains before the HIPAA security rule takes effect April 21, 2005, many health care organizations are a long way from compliance, according to an assessment by Washington, DC-based URAC, the only organization...

OCR reports more than 5,000 complaints: largest number filed against private practices.(Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights)
August 1, 2004... As of April 2004, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights (OCR) had received more than 5,000 complaints from individuals about alleged HIPAA privacy violations. New Haven, CT-based Wiggin & Dana attorney Jennifer...

Working Group concerned about claims rejections: slow-pay modification is at issue.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 compliance)
August 1, 2004... The HIPAA Implementation Working Group, a coalition formed to help providers and vendors better understand the process by which the HIPAA electronic standards are developed and modified and to increase provider and vendor representation in that...

Vendors agree on HIPAA interpretation 43% of time.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The HIPAA Conformance Certification Organization (HCCO) says its Common Compliance Assessment Process determined that, on average, the nation's leading HIPAA translation and validation vendors agree in their interpretation of compliance 43% of...