Hospital Access Management articles from February 2004

Hospital Access Management archives from February 2004

Move to centralize specialty schedulers is boon to efficiency, customer service: lost call rates decrease by half; service levels up 40%.
February 1, 2004... When it came to streamlining the way patients, referring physicians, and other interested parties contact Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA, for various access-related services, it seems that one good idea led to another. Key among a...

Coverage for unfunded is access director's specialty: initiatives brought millions in reimbursement.
February 1, 2004... "If the front end would just get it right when the patient first comes in... goes the refrain from billers, or the CFO, or some other party focused on putting the blame for unreimbursed care at the feet of the access department. But when...

Why not more outsourcing? It's about control.(Guest Column)
February 1, 2004... It's easy to make the case that many administrative transactions health organizations routinely handle in-house can be done better, faster, and more cost-effectively by outside vendors. Out-sourced revenue-cycle processes benefit from improved...

New access career ladder adds incentive, fairness: 'morale has been wonderful.'.
February 1, 2004... Access personnel at the University Hospital of Arkansas in Little Rock can look forward to moving up a recently established career ladder that is boosting morale as well as paychecks, says Mary Nellums, CHAM, admissions manager. As is true...

Myriad laws specify treatment consent rule: get form signed consistently, AM cautions.(Access Feedback)
February 1, 2004... Access departments are playing with fire if they don't consistently obtain consent for treatment before treatment is given, emphasizes Susan Baxley, corporate admitting manager for Sacramento, CA-based Adventist Health System. Baxley was...

Study: growth slows in health care spending.
February 1, 2004... The growth in health care spending declined by 1.5 percentage points in the first half of 2003--the largest six-month drop since the early 1990s, according to a recent study by the Center for Studying Health System Change. The study found...

OIG seeks proposals for safe-harbor provisions.
February 1, 2004... Proposals for developing new or modifying existing safe-harbor provisions under the federal anti-kickback statute will be accepted by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General (OIG) through Feb. 10. The...

AHA survey shows hospital use rising.
February 1, 2004... More Americans turned to hospitals for care in 2002, according to findings from the American Hospital Association's (AHA) latest Annual Survey of Hospitals. The survey of more than 5,700 hospitals shows admissions at community hospitals...

CMS publishes quality survey tool.
February 1, 2004... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published a revised survey instrument and proposed administration instructions for the patient perceptions of care survey known as HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans). The...

Privacy expert urges clarification for privacy regs: Health Privacy Project advocates increase in technical guidance.
February 1, 2004... Health Privacy Project executive director Janlori Goldman said that while many glitches and misinterpretations of the HIPAA privacy regulation have been resolved, others remain and should be addressed by the Department of Health and Human...

The HIPAA privacy rule: sorting myths from facts: expert responds to 13 persistent HIPAA myths.
February 1, 2004... In testimony late last year before the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics' Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality, Health Privacy Project executive director Janlori Goldman...

Hospitals having problems with privacy reg, AHA says: three aspects of rule creating unnecessary burdens.
February 1, 2004... American Hospital Association (AHA) attorney Lawrence Hughes said there are aspects of the privacy rule that still are not working well and are creating unnecessary burdens for hospitals, with little benefit to patients. One of the biggest...

Survey shows physicians not ready for HIPAA: fewer than 50% perform background checks.
February 1, 2004... Rhode Island's Seacrest DocSecurity surveyed more than 500 physicians nationwide late in 2003, questioning them on requirements that insurance companies ask for before underwriting physicians and hospitals for insurance, and concluded that...

Q&A.(HIPAA)
February 1, 2004... Question: Does the security rule specify how a risk analysis must be conducted? Answer: The security rule requires all covered entities to perform an accurate and thorough assessment of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the...