The California Sutter Health Approach - Essay Example

The California Sutter Health ApproachIntroductionSutter Health in California wanted to move from traditional payment processing system by improving its current revenue collection system and increasing the point-of-service collections. This upgrade had to take place in steps before the new system was completely in place and the old one wiped away. The traditional system was ineffective and it resulted in low revenue collection and also low quality services since it was dealing with up-front payment which required that the collection of the money be done before the services are provided and this meant extra work for the Patient Service Staff (PFS) who dealt with client information and they therefore lacked accountability.

In the new system, the PFS would be empowered to be accountable about each patient’s information as their work will be much easier now. This will be possible as each PFS member is provided tools that enable automation of accounts by sorting out the accounts by use of various means and also dashboards to track progress. This will lead to more autonomy and efficiency of the services being provided.There were also changes in the registration section to ensure that patients’ problems were identified before they left the registration desk to reduce claims.

Some of the patients’ problems included bad debts and having invalid patient types. The changes in the new system program mentioned included having a front end collecting system with different access to analyze the patients’ records.As with introduction of every new program, training was needed if the benchmarks in the old system were to be fully eliminated and the goals of the new system met. A comprehensive training program for the PFS and the registration staff was designed in order to provide these staffs with the necessary tools and competence require by the new system.

The training also prevented hiring of new staff already competent in the new system but who would cost Sutter Health more money per hour. Since the new system allowed more autonomy to the staff, the training also included introducing aspects of autonomy and how to handle it for effectiveness and motivation to the employees.ConclusionThe implementation of the new program brought other benefits like bringing the customers on board since it was customer friendly, it reduced the number of patients being denied treatment due to the inventory system and the patients new beforehand the cost they were going to incur.

All this was possible because Sutter Health conducted research and evaluations on its facilities and systems and hence knew which areas to change and how hence having new benchmarks, ensuring employee empowerment and also customer satisfaction.ReferencesSouza, M. and McCarty, B. (2007). “From bottom to top: How one provider retooled its collections.” Healthcare Financial Management. 61(9), pg. 67-73.