Health system fine-tunes administrative role
Health system fine-tunes administrative role
Employees cross-trained in most suitable skills
When Sentara Health System in Norfolk, VA, planned to deploy administrative associates to perform business functions on-site at its clinical operating centers, the idea was for every associate to be a jack-of-all-trades, says Brenda Loper, CMPA, director of patient financial services.
Functions to be included in the deployment were preregistration; scheduling; admitting; assembly and analysis of charts; handling valuables; insurance verification; financial counseling and follow-up; and cashiering. In addition, the administrative associates would perform the duties of a unit secretary, such as typing notes at meetings, reception services, answering the telephone, and paging nurses.
But after trying the concept at one hospital, management became concerned that administrative associates weren’t receiving enough attention. The original associates those who had work experience before the deployment were knowledgeable in the various functions. But with about 200 administrative associates spread across three hospitals, it was difficult to give new hires the education they needed in the different areas, Loper points out. "[The experience] validated, for example, that not everybody can ask for money. It is very difficult for some people to talk to the family about payments."
Management focused on responding to patient needs and gave associates training in skills they could best use to respond to those needs.
For that reason, she adds, financial counseling while still part of the administrative associate "job family" is one of a few specialized skills performed by employees particularly suited to it. Insurance verification, crucial for accurate reimbursement in managed care, is another. All of the business administrative associates know how to perform the more general skills, such as admitting and preregistration, but each is required to learn only a couple of the more specialized functions, such as insurance verification and financial counseling.
A separate group of employees now perform the unit secretary-type duties, such as paging nurses and taking meeting notes.
The medical records component assembly and preparation of charts has been removed from the job duties of the administrative associate. Employees in charge of those duties report to the director of medical records.
"Medical records is a good example of something where you need somebody worrying about that [job function] all the time," Loper says. "It can’t be on a list of 25 things you do."
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