Hospital Access Management articles from June 2002

Hospital Access Management archives from June 2002

State-of-the-art call center at UPMC boosts billing accuracy, collections: central location simplifies management and training.(University of Pittsburgh Medical Center)
June 1, 2002... Developing a new off-site call center for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) was the mission. The challenge, says Georgina Trunzo, director of patient access services for the health system's hospital division, was combining the...

Access tool tracks, sorts accounts that need work: user can `tailor-make' report.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... At its new off-site pre-arrival call center, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is making use of a patient access-reporting tool, known as PART, created by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. "What we are doing is creating an...

Nurses and registrars cut barriers to ED patient flow: new discharge process provides closure.
June 1, 2002... Teamwork between clinicians and registrars has streamlined the emergency department (ED) operation at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, in Winston-Salem, NC, resulting in shorter wait times, increased self-pay collection, and a...

Getting the `right people, in the right environment': first step in improving admissions process.
June 1, 2002... Renovating, reorganizing space, and "getting the right people working in the right environment with the right equipment," all have been part of improving the admissions process at Philadelphia's Presbyterian Medical Center, says Anthony M....

Carefully crafted appeal letter provides results.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... (Editor's note: Dan Wassilchalk, director of performance improvement and utilization management at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, described how his facility dramatically increased its recovery rate on denied days in the February 2002...

Form letter, follow-up attract parents' attention. (Access Feedback).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Gateways Mental Health Hospital in Los Angeles has developed an effective method for obtaining consents from the parents of their young patients, says Patricia Jackson, director of patient accounting. Responding to a request for feedback...

Debate on `access' vs. `admitting' goes on. (Access Feedback).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Hospital Access Management readers continue to weigh in on the subject of whether there is a trend away from using the term "access" to describe the department that encompasses admitting and registration functions. (For a different view, see...

NAHAM speaks out on the `access' debate. (Guest Column).(National Association of Healthcare Access Management)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... [Editor's note: Joe Denney is a veteran access professional, past president of the National Association of Healthcare Access Management (NAHAM) and chairman of NAHAM's communications/publications committee.] On behalf of NAHAM, I would...

Interpreter service helps care quality, report says.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Access to interpreter services -- an area that often falls under the purview of access management -- improves the quality of care and reduces the likelihood of medication errors, according to a recent survey examining language barriers in...

CMS to publish changes in regs.(Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare and Medicaid regulations)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The latest changes in Medicare and Medicaid regulations will be published quarterly, under a new plan announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The first edition of the Quarterly Provider Update was issued in late...

ED visits, wait time up 14% since 1997.(emergency department)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 1, 2002... Hospital emergency department (ED) visits increased 14% between 1997 and 2001, according to new statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year, there were 108 million visitors to EDs, compared to 95 million...