Creating a culture of accountability in patient access

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Abstract: Texas Health Resources (THR), a 14-hospital system in north central Texas, has taken steps over a number of years to standardise best practices and improve outcomes across its Patient Access organisation. To support this effort, revenue cycle leaders implemented a process to capture patient encounters for monitoring against the system’s strategic objectives for patient experience, financial performance, quality and compliance. Each encounter is captured and tied to the patient account for a digital audit trail of information exchanged across the continuum. A central point of access facilitates secure sharing of data, reducing rework and back-and-forth between entities in search of patient information. In this article, system directors of Patient Access will share how THR is documenting the revenue cycle experience from the initial scheduling call to the in-person visit at admission.

Keywords: patient experience, revenue cycle, patient access, scheduling, registration

Patti Consolver is a Senior Director of Patient Access Services for Texas Health Resources in Arlington, Texas. She has been with Texas Health Resources for over 23 years and has extensive background knowledge of patient access services and front end revenue services.

Scott Phillips is a Senior Director of Patient Access with Texas Health Resources in Arlington, Texas and has been with THR for 15 years. Scott previously served as Director over Patient Access Services at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, an 866 acute care facility.