These responsibilities requires a manager to gather information from physicians and other staff members. With all the information coded and on file, a manager will be able send out accurate billing statements to insurance companies and patients. In order to be successful in the accuracy of medical records, coding and billing, and insurance processing, students who are seeking an Associates of Applied Science in Medical Office Management must acquire detail oriented skills. Mastering this skill will not only further ones career, but help simplify their responsibilities and keep them organized. According to Kaplan University (n.d.), medical office managers must be competent in medical records management, billing and coding, and insurance processing.
A senior person will also check your work and will be there for guidance if any conflict of interest occurs. A senior person is there to consult if a situation arises that you are unsure of. They will make you aware of performance standards, your responsibilities, your level of authority and the policies, procedures and strategies used to support and uphold the standards of the practice. As a medical receptionist, you are often the first point of contact with a patient. It is extremely important to build a good relationship with the patients who attend the practice.
WHAT IS AN ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD (EMR) ? An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a way of storing patient information on a computer. EMR have a similar structure to the paper-charts, and these contain all the information that is relevent for the treatment and nursing of a patient. The EMR includes both clinical information: such as diagnosis, allergies and medicines; and a demographic information, such as: personal information, for non-clinical use- an example of such information is the patients’ health number that is given to him/her when he/she visits the hospital for the first time. The records contain information that is used for different purposes: 1) Administrative tasks: Registering patients Scheduling appointments 2) Clinical practices (diagnostic & therapeutic decisions): Computerized prescriptions Lab tests Diagnostic measures Progress notes from different healthcare providers 3) Research practices QUALITY BENEFITS OF AN EMR Assessing data from paper medical records is time-consuming because it involves reviewing information manually — record by record.
It is imperative that documentation is done thoroughly and properly every time data is recorded. Any time a patient calls, misses an appointment, or very difficult and aggressive it should be recorded in their chart. It is important that all information pertaining to the patient be recorded in case there is a question about proper documentation. Availability of the Correct Information Most offices, facilities, and practices in the healthcare field have operating hours with more than one shift. A patient may be in need of the date a Hepatitis B vaccination was given or inquiring about their next appointment.
Review the labs, and ensure any lab values that need follow up are faced or phoned to the surgeon. • Ensure any day of antibiotic orders have been faxed to pharmacy, take any actions you can for pre operative orders now. • Phone the patient, fill out any other information you can on the pre-op check list. Make sure you cover all the points on the telephone check list sheet, this way our patients will arrive with a ride home, and someone to stay with them post OR. • Once the Telephone screen is complete – on the upper left hand part of the chart write
By providing an efficient intake process, a certain flow can be maintained to move the process along smoothly and more organized. If any of the processes are not organized there will be a lot of confusion and unhappy patients. Patient satisfaction should be a step that is included in any health care facility. The patient intake process usually began when a patient calls to schedule an appointment. This is usually where the patients personal information is obtain such as their name, phone number, date of birth, address, reason for the appointment, name of health care coverage and referring physicians if there is any.
Step 4 Check out patients – Even though the specialist is to give the patient all prescriptions, lab slip or referral paperwork they might need and set up a follow up appointment if necessary. The specialist also needs to record all medical codes for the visit and to make sure that all information about the visit is up to date in the patient’s medical records. Step 5 Review coding compliance – With this step the specialist needs to obtain all CPT and ICD-9 codes from
Everything you do in the office is a reflection on the facility. It is important to take a patients vital signs in order to keep the patients history updated since the last time he/she has visited. Also, you need to establish the patients’ current health.
They are responsible for guiding both the patient and the doctors in the busy hospital environment. Often they are called upon to present files with histories of the patient in order to generate a new path of treatment. As such the administrative
Some potential career paths include physician office or clinic assisting, hospital setting medical assisting, optometry assisting, and chiropractic assisting. This career field has numerous daily hand on patient care requirements such as recording patient history, medication lists, taking vitals, performing EKG’s, administering vaccines, and drawing blood. There are also numerous front office requirements such as “scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, billing, and coding information for insurance purpose” (O-Net). The actual daily requirements on the job will be determined by the position held and the type of specialty that the office specialized in, but all of the skills are essential to know to be gainfully employable in this field. It is predicted by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation that an increase of 14% will occur over the next ten years in the demand of medical assisting positions.