Hospital Access Management articles from September 2003

Hospital Access Management archives from September 2003

Architect's vision set the framework for innovative outpatient tracking: patients monitored on-line as they 'flow' from registration to service area.
September 1, 2003... Presented with the opportunity to revamp outpatient registration in conjunction with the opening of a beautiful new facility, Parrish Medical Center patient registration manager Linda Lilleboe, RN, MSN, and business office director Christine...

Hospitals check billing as spotlight intensifies: disparities for uninsured examined.
September 1, 2003... With growing scrutiny nationwide of how hospitals bill and collect payments from their uninsured patients, access managers and their bosses are taking a look at their self-pay policies and reflecting on how this trend will affect revenue...

Network provides its training, support on-line: insurance updates, 'access alerts' included.
September 1, 2003... A web page for registration training and support for Aurora Health Care's metro region is providing a wealth of information for access personnel and drawing praise not just from the Milwaukee-based facilities it targets, but throughout the...

Kinder enforcement indicated for HIPAA EDI: many won't be ready, industry groups say.
September 1, 2003... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will use a complaint-driven process to enforce the transactions and code sets provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) after the Oct. 16 implementation...

HIPAA likely standard for state privacy actions: ED gossip could be costly, lawyer warns.
September 1, 2003... Although the Health Insurance Portability and accountability Act (HIPAA) does not create a private right to sue health care workers who leak information, state laws do, points out Stephen A. Frew, JD, a web site publisher (www.medlaw.com) and...

CMS makes changes to MSP regulations.(Medicare Secondary Payer)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Provisions that bar providers from filing claims against liability insurers for care rendered to beneficiaries are being removed from Medicare Secondary Payer regulations. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) had not enforced...

Hospital credit downgrades said to be on the increase.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The nation's hospitals face an uncertain financial future, according to a recent report on Wall Street's view of hospitals by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). A number of stresses over the past year have resulted in an...

'Critical focus areas' for random JCAHO surveys.(Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has announced that in 2004 it will revise the performance areas evaluated during random unannounced surveys. Beginning in 2004, the reporting of standards...

Computer model offered to aid disaster readiness.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A disaster readiness advisory issued by the American Hospital Association (AHA) offers a free computer model hospitals can use to plan clinics for dispensing critical drugs or vaccinations in the event of disease outbreaks or bioterrorism. ...

Bedside patient education offered by 'Most Wired'.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Hospitals who made the 100 "Most Wired" list for 2003 are using Internet technologies to improve patient education at the bedside, for customer services such as pre-registration, physician referrals and appointment scheduling, and to feed...

Intensify efforts at transaction compliance, HHS says: no postponements expected as deadline nears.
September 1, 2003... As the Oct. 16 deadline for covered entities to comply with HIPAA's electronic code set and transaction provisions approaches, organizations should be intensifying their efforts toward achieving compliance, according to the Department of Health...

Is your facility using unprotected e-mails? Penalties for noncompliance could be steep.
September 1, 2003... A survey by Dallas-based ZixCorp, a global provider of e-messaging management and protection services, indicates that many leading health care organizations are transmitting e-mail messages containing federally protected health information over...

Physicians cautioned about paper claims: reject temptation to revert to paper claims.
September 1, 2003... Physician practices considering going back to paper claims as a way of coping with the Oct. 16 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) deadline for transactions and code sets should resist the temptation, according to John Thomas, CEO of...

JCAHO, NCQA certifying privacy compliance.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the National Committee for Quality Assurance )
September 1, 2003... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Oakbrook Terrace, IL, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), in Washington, DC, have started a new Privacy Certification Program for Business...

HIPAA does not block nursing home surveys.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) says HIPAA privacy regulations don't negate requirements under the Social Security Act that the results of the most recent nursing home survey must be made available to the public. CMS says...

Privacy requirements give researchers fits.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Confusion in research circles over privacy requirements under HIPAA is seen in a flap at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, which sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) asking whether it could request patients'...

Insurance policy to cover violations of HIPAA rules.
September 1, 2003... A San Francisco insurer is offering health care providers what it says may be a first in underwriting--a professional liability insurance policy specifically geared toward electronic-based and web-enabled transactions for health care...