Future for Patient Access Reps
Published September 15, 2009 | 
We are constantly having to keep on our toes with information and education. With the Healthcare field projecting to have an average 18% increase in need over the next 5 years and more industries shutting down or not having any increase in jobs we who keep on time of the new trends within our area. After reading over several blogs and articles in newspapers and medical sites I have found a couple of things that have peak my interest.
The first of these are medical smart cards. It is a plastic card the size of a credit card that contains all of your patients medical records. The patient carries it around with them from medical center, to doctor to hospital and the medical personnel only has to slide or swipe it and all the information gets uploaded to the computer. Of course you will need compatible card readers and software to receive the records and update them. Some can even include the patient’s demographic and insurance information. Check out the following websites for more information: Project SwipeIT and smartcardalliance.org.
Doctors have access to medical reference apps on their iphones such as Taber’s Medical Dictionary, Davis’s Drug guide and STAT ICD-9 LITE and soon even patient records and updates on patients progress in the hospital on their blackberries. Medical Schools are beginning Google is gathering supporters within the insurance companies to provide patient data to Google’s electronic personal health record platform. The goal of which is to have the patient’s medical history accessable online for the patient to grant access to their medical providers.
And finally, my favorite, is virtual reality training. A hospital in Chicago commissioned a company called Linden Lab to create a virtual replica of their hospital and the surrounding area inside and out. The Second Life program allows the employees to practice Emergency drills in virtual real time. This game can be set for a variety of disasters and each employee can go online to practice drills and learn how to do them without interupting the hospital routine. This application can be used for a variety of different scenarios.
Cheers!
Medical Office Newsletter Resources
Published September 1, 2009 | Everyday or so I get newsletters in my email from a variety of different sources to try and keep abreast of the changes in our profession. I mainly focus on the information technology updates within the medical field because that is what I am mostly interested in moving towards.
Here is a listing of some of the medical resources that allow you to sign-up for their newsletters for FREE. All you need is a email address from your work and they will be sent to your email as they become available. Some of them will allow you to pick and choose the parts of the newsletters that you are more interesting in receiving.
NON-INSURANCE WEBSITES:
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/
http://www.healthforum.com/healthforum/html/pubs/publications.html
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions-managing-your-practice.shtml
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/
http://www.mgma.com/article.aspx?id=24078
These are not newsletters but they have program information online as well as updates to their coverages:
FEDERAL INSURANCE SITES
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/home/medicare.asp
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/home/medicaid.asp
http://tricare.mil/tma/currentprovider.aspx
http://www.va.gov/hac/forproviders/forproviders.asp
http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/planinfo/index.asp
PRIVATE INSURANCE SITES: (Some of these sites may need you to sign-on)
http://www.aetna.com/provider/medical/index.html
http://www.bcbs.com/coverage/find/plan/
http://www.cigna.com/customer_care/healthcare_professional/index.html
http://www.humana.com/providers/tools/
http://providers.kp.org/ga/newsletters.html
All of these websites are great resources for Patient Accounting personnel not only to doctors. It might be a good idea to add them to your favorites or bookmarks. You may have to register with some of these sites so have your provider numbers, tax-id and the like handy. Yes, this is a lot of information to go through but little by little as you become familiar with the websites, read through the information and keeping notes for yourself you will become a GREAT Patient Access Rep. That is the name of the game for us we have to keep abreast of the changes and requirements in our field.
Cheers and keep yourself educated.