Case Study Questions-Ambulatory Care
1. SABATOGE- In a very successful, 120-physician group practice, all patient appointments for return visits are handled by the office assistant in each physician's office.
The office assistant also is responsible for coordinating patient visits with other consultants in the group and for all laboratory, radiology, and special test requisitions.
Six months ago a computerized system was installed to provide centralized scheduling. The office assistant no longer has to make telephone calls to coordinate the schedule because the schedule of the physician needed or the test ordered can be called up on the computer screen.
Members of the department of medicine fought the installation of computerized scheduling because they felt it was an invasion of their scheduling prerogatives. They did not want someone else to determine how they spent their time in the office. To sabotage the new system, a handful of physicians decided to reserve many appointment times on their computers.
As a result, the creditability of the system is suffering.
a. Assume you are the administrator of this practice. What steps would you take to resolve this problem?
2. A CASE OF PATIENT SENSITIVITY- Joe Jinx, a clinic administrator, received a telephone call at 9:15am from the irate husband of a patient.
Mr. Knox, the caller, expressed great displeasure with the fact that his wife, Henrietta, who had come to the clinic for a scheduled first-time diagnostic workup, was sitting in the outer lobby cooling her heels because she didn't have her check book and was unprepared to make the $250 deposit being requested by a credit clerk. Mr. Knox attested that he is wealthy and for this reason does not carry health insurance.
He and his wife also do not believe in carrying credit cards. Mr. Knox was highly critical of the clinic's policy that assumes that he and his wife are credit risks because they do not have health insurance. Joe Jinx responded that he was unaware of the requirement for an advance deposit if the patient is uninsured. Meanwhile, Henrietta was still sitting in the lobby.
a. What should Mr. Jinx do right now?
b. How could this problem have been prevented?
c. What questions should Mr. Jinx ask to familiarize himself with credit and collection policies of the group?