EXEMPLARY PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Sticker Initiative at South Campus Reduces Billing Complaints
Prior to March 2019, the Dual Track system at South Campus was confusing to patients and their families, especially as it related to billing. Because the urgent care is only open certain hours, families may be billed emergency department prices if their visit falls outside the urgent care’ s operational hours. However, there wasn’ t a system in place that clearly told patients and their families where their visit would be. And families were not pleased when their bill was higher than they expected, due to utilization of emergency department services.
ANDREA BURRELL, BSN, RN,
Clinical Manager of the South Emergency Department and South Inpatient Unit
In March 2019, the leadership team decided to conduct a pilot program, led by Andrea Burrell, BSN, RN, Clinical Manager of the South Emergency Department and South Inpatient Unit, to give each patient and family a sticker that clearly stated they were being seen in the emergency room instead of the urgent care. The new stickers were made easily accessible for triage charge nurses, and they were instructed to label every patient they triaged. As a result of these efforts, patient billing complaints related to misunderstanding of level of care have dropped significantly.
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