Hospital Access Management articles from July 2002

Hospital Access Management archives from July 2002

Proposed changes to EMTALA rule still lack clear direction, expert says: prior authorization, off-site locations addressed.(Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act)
July 1, 2002... Proposed changes to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) regulations indicate an attempt to "clear up areas that get the loudest complaints," but still don't give providers the direction they need, says Stephen Frew, JD, a...

Read between EMTALA lines for `ominous' message.(Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Challenge likely on inpatient stance There is an "ominous" overtone and at least one glaring opportunity for court challenge in the proposed changes to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) regulations, suggests Stephen...

Staff, training improvement part of access makeover: new uniforms are part of the package.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The patient access department at Centegra Health System in McHenry, IL, has undergone what can best be described as a total makeover, with expanded staffing, a revamped training program, and a new focus on registration accuracy and regulatory...

Split in patient access job brings new training focus: regulatory issues get more attention.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... When officials at Centegra Health System in McHenry, IL, decided to distribute the patient access workload, they created a new position--system administrator--that former access manager Liz Kehrer, CHAM, says is tailor-made for her. While...

Centegra's pre-reg team also doing collections: efforts reduce registrars' workload.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... When Deb Fanning was hired to be patient access manager at Centegra Health System in McHenry, IL, one of her objectives was to establish centralized pre-registration. That process began in August 2001, Fanning says, when she took four...

Health care leaders share discharge delay reasons: lack of resources, communication cited.
July 1, 2002... What is the No. 1 reason for patient discharge delays? Hospital Access Management posed that question to several leaders in the fields of access services and discharge planning. Their responses are below, along with some thoughts on how the...

New MSP time frame prompts reader question: possible provider risk cited. (Access Feedback).(Medicare Secondary Payer)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Liz Kehrer, CHAM, system administrator for patient access at Centegra Health System in McHenry, IL, raises questions about the practicality of implementing a recent change to the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) rule. In a program memorandum...

Collaboration with nursing getting more COAs signed: Admitters helped in education effort. (Access feedback).(conditions of admission)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Bryan LGH Medical Center in Lincoln, NE, has a new process for obtaining patient consent that has significantly reduced the number of cases in which the conditions of admission (COA) form is not signed, according to Marilyn Klem, admissions...

On-line health information helps decisions, study says.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Recent studies indicate that the number of people in the United States who seek health care information on-line has doubled since 1998, and that those who search the web for such material say it has an impact on their decisions. The number...

Solucient delays 100 top hospitals report.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Citing a delay in data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Solucient, an Evanston, IL-based health care information services provider, has announced that the 2001 edition of the 100 Top Hospitals: Benchmarks for Success,...

NCQA, AMGA looking for grant applications.(National Committee for Quality Assurance, American Medical Group Association)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The Washington, DC-based National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) of Alexandria, VA, and Pharmacia (Peapack, NJ) are calling on physician-directed organizations with at least three providers...