Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/874010
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 5 "Before, no one down-staffed and no one flexed, so if we were done with cases at noon, it was common to have staff sit down and play computer games or just lounge," says Ms. Miller. "Now, if we're done with cases early and a nurse would like to go home, she can do that if she wants. But if nurses still want hours, all they have to do is be engaged with other things we're doing here," like keeping up with accreditation or OSHA compliance. • Boosting point-of-service collections. A new financial policy requires patients to meet at least 60% of their financial responsibilities before surgery, and set up a payment plan with the billing department to account for the rest. (Urgent or medically necessary cases are excluded from this rule.) The center informs the patient of the policy verbally and in writing during the scheduling process, and also mails an estimate of the patient's financial responsibility apart from what the payer will cover. One week before surgery, a staffer will remind patients of the payment policy during the pre-op phone call. Some patients have balked at the policy — overall case volume dipped after implementing the change in December 2015 — but Ms. surgery. Things changed when Kathleen N. Fischer, MBA, CPB, came on board as the business office manager last March. "The front desk is key to a healthy revenue cycle," says Ms. Fischer. "We wanted to reduce the amount of patient collections on the back end." How'd they do it? After a patient is scheduled for sur- gery, the business office loads and verifies her insurance and then calculates the patient responsibility. Staff notify the patient by phone of the amount — and that it is due in full at check-in. The front desk is collecting nearly 100% from patients, says Ms. Fischer. — Bill Donahue