>  en savoir plus

 v   Work Processes
For five years the Patient Financial Services department was outsourced to a third party. In order to gain tighter control over information and payment processes, Oaklawn decided to bring the department in-house.

“I was hired to start up the Patient Financial Services department and was told I had 115 banker boxes of information to bring over and essentially no storage space. I knew we needed an electronic storage system that could be implemented quickly,“ said Beth Arter, Director of Patient Financial Services.

Solution Requirements
With an entirely new staff, Beth Arter needed an integrated document management solution that was easy to install, learn and use on a daily basis. The solution should not hamper the new department’s workflow or consume limited office space. She needed a solution with a low total cost of ownership that could help her department meet the privacy and access requirements defined by the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known as HIPAA. Additionally, the system needed to be flexible and able to be rolled out across the organization.

 >  en savoir plus

 v   Efficient workflow storage processes are now in place. Explanation of Benefit forms, which contain insurance payment information for multiple patients, can be between 1-1,000 pages long and are indexed by payer and payment date, not by individual patient names. Check copies are indexed the same way. Only prior authorization forms use more index fields and are stored by patient name, patient ID, insurance company name and dates of service. This method of simple indexing allows the staff to easily find needed information.

On the retrieval side, the staff uses DocuWare constantly in order to reference documents needed to answer questions related to EOB payment interpretation, secondary insurance claims, or to verify information from insurance cards or contracts. All this information can now be instantly accessed, faxed or e-mailed from the desktop, without getting up to hunt for one piece of paper.

“My staff absolutely loves DocuWare. I have not yet received a complaint about the system, in fact I think they would throw a major temper tantrum if I took it away from them,“ joked Beth.

 >  en savoir plus

 v   Department Benefits
One of the biggest benefits the department has seen is time savings resulting from fast retrieval. They can process more claims with DocuWare than a larger staff working with a manual paper-based system.

“I’ve worked with paper EOBs in the past and DocuWare prevents my staff from spending a lot of time retrieving documents. My staff never has to deal with running in circles to find the right document,“ said Beth.

DocuWare allows the department to meet HIPAA requirements for all patient related data by tracking who stored each document, the storage date, as well as who accessed each document and the access date. Document security is easily managed using assigned access rights based on document type and file cabinet.

The transition from an outsourced to in-house department went very smooth – thanks to the flexibility of DocuWare. During the transition, the outsource agency, located 90 miles away, was responsible for billing secondary insurance claims. With DocuWare in place it was easy to share EOB documents during the few months it took to consolidate all the billing into one office.

Corporate Benefits
Without an electronic document management solution, Oaklawn would not have been able to move Patient Financial Services, short of building additional office and storage space. DocuWare allowed the company to regain control over the Patient Financial Services process, while providing better customer service to its patients and their advocates, thus improving patient satisfaction.

Legal exposure has been reduced because Oaklawn is able to meet HIPPA and other internal and external compliance requirements.

Cash flow has improved since the department moved in-house. DocuWare provides optimum control of information and allows the staff to easily resolve disputed payment claims with patients and insurance companies.

The system is expanding throughout the organization and more and more efficiencies are being realized. For example, the HR department maintains a credentials electronic file cabinet that contains physician licenses, degrees and résumés. This information is often needed by the Patient Financial Services department for submission to insurance providers in order to obtain payment. Oaklawn is in the process of implementing the solution enterprise-wide among three different sites.

Beth said, “We at Oaklawn have a long term outlook in regards to DocuWare. For us, this system is not just about document storage, but about document workflow as well.“

By streamlining business processes, Oaklawn’s staff can focus on its vision of helping people “live in harmony with self, others and God, through healing and growth of the whole person.“