Hospital Access Management articles from January 2003

Hospital Access Management archives from January 2003

Access training program hits the road, sharing success with other facilities: Arkansas provider brings hospitals together to share ideas.
January 1, 2003... The University Hospital of Arkansas in Little Rock is taking its "Strengthening Bridges" program for access employees on the road and finding some additional benefits for the home crowd as well as for a new audience. Opening the continuing...

Proactive registration dept. leads to hospital's award: patient satisfaction, physician efforts cited.
January 1, 2003... When Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth received the Ohio Award for Excellence (OAE) in September 2002, indications are that it had a lot to do with the hospital's proactive registration and central scheduling department. Outlined...

Registrars' cash incentive raises hospital collections: figures double in just one year.
January 1, 2003... Brown County General Hospital more than doubled its upfront cash collections over the past year by offering incentives to both registrars and their bosses, says Barb Dailey, patient access director at the Georgetown, OH, facility. Fifteen...

Preprinted forms gone; data flow is enhanced: embosser cards, bulky machine also gone.
January 1, 2003... Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital in Columbia, SC, has replaced its old embosser card technology with a Patient Link Up Enterprise (PLUE) system that has eliminated costly preprinted forms and increased the clarity and accuracy of the patient...

How one system scripted religious questions.
January 1, 2003... In early 2001, while serving as corporate director for registration and financial services at Crozer-Keystone Health System in Upland, PA, Anthony M. Bruno, MPA, MEd, developed a script for patient access representatives to use when asking...

Are blood pressure checks covered under EMTALA? Expert also addresses ambulance provisions. (Emtala Q & A).(Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act)
January 1, 2003... [Editors' note: This column runs occasionally in Hospital Access Management and addresses questions regarding the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).] Question: At a smaller critical access hospital, members of the...

Demand for beds expected to increase.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Bed management likely will become an even more critical issue for access managers, with demand for hospital beds expected to increase by as much as 46% in the next 25 years. A study published recently by Solucient, a health care business...

Final OPPS rule increases spending.(outpatient prospective payment system )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The 1,000-page final outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) rule, which takes effect this month, provides the congressionally mandated inflationary update and increases overall spending, but still pays hospitals only 83 cents for every...

Emergency care crisis indicated by AZ survey.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... A statewide survey of recent emergency department (ED) visitors sponsored by the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association points to an emerging crisis in the availability of and access to emergency treatment in the state. The public...

HHS issues final report on regulatory reform.(Department of Health and Human Services)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The final report of the Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform features 255 recommendations to improve care delivery by reducing the regulatory burden on health care providers. The recommendations...

Patient violence called biggest threat to ED staff.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... More than 90% of emergency department (ED) managers at VHA member hospitals polled at a recent conference cited patient violence as the greatest threat to ED personnel, despite heightened awareness of bioterrorism and the recent terrorist...

Cash discounts surface as government concern.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Cash discounts are rising on the government's radar screen, warn health care attorneys, who point to the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General special advisory on inducements issued recently. "Whether and to what...