Understanding The Patient Intake Process: Case Study
Rachel Dox
Week 3 – Understanding the Patient Intake Process
University of Phoenix
Medical Insurance describes the intake process using a decision tree model (pg. 79, Figure 3.1, Valerius, Bayes, Newby, & Blochowiak, 2014). The tree leads administration personnel through a list of questions to determine if the patient is a new patient or an established patient. The first problem with this process is that some of the new patients are patients that have been seen at the practice. If an established patient has an appointment with a new specialist or sub-specialist that patient is registered as a new patient. The problem with this is describing these patients as new patients can lead to multiple patient records and lost data between physicians.
If a patient for example, was seen in a large medical office that had several types of specialists and subspecialists creating a new patient chart for each visit to a new doctor or specialist would make it difficult to ensure that all files were updated. This would be particular important for a patient that was under more …show more content…
When multiple copies of a patient file are in circulation it becomes increasingly difficult to control the circulation and creates unnecessary possibilities for HIPPA violations. A Master Patient Index will also increase efficiency and patient care. According to Building a successful enterprise master patient index: a case study: “there are more overlap patient files than an organization usually perceives; an imprecise and incomplete base of demographic data will multiply the error rate for the enterprise” (Lenson, 1998). The master patient index ensures that patients are given a unique identification number only once, meaning there will never be multiple patient files for one patient. A centralized records management center ensures that there are not duplicate files due to
Week 3 – Understanding the Patient Intake Process
University of Phoenix
Medical Insurance describes the intake process using a decision tree model (pg. 79, Figure 3.1, Valerius, Bayes, Newby, & Blochowiak, 2014). The tree leads administration personnel through a list of questions to determine if the patient is a new patient or an established patient. The first problem with this process is that some of the new patients are patients that have been seen at the practice. If an established patient has an appointment with a new specialist or sub-specialist that patient is registered as a new patient. The problem with this is describing these patients as new patients can lead to multiple patient records and lost data between physicians.
If a patient for example, was seen in a large medical office that had several types of specialists and subspecialists creating a new patient chart for each visit to a new doctor or specialist would make it difficult to ensure that all files were updated. This would be particular important for a patient that was under more …show more content…
When multiple copies of a patient file are in circulation it becomes increasingly difficult to control the circulation and creates unnecessary possibilities for HIPPA violations. A Master Patient Index will also increase efficiency and patient care. According to Building a successful enterprise master patient index: a case study: “there are more overlap patient files than an organization usually perceives; an imprecise and incomplete base of demographic data will multiply the error rate for the enterprise” (Lenson, 1998). The master patient index ensures that patients are given a unique identification number only once, meaning there will never be multiple patient files for one patient. A centralized records management center ensures that there are not duplicate files due to