CHAA high-yield patient-access drill

The rule

Identify the patient, clear the visit, and keep patient class true. Do not delay an emergency screening for insurance.

Next step

If authorization is missing on a gated service, the slot is pending, not cleared.

Never miss

• Two identifiers before you open or create a record.
• EMTALA: no delay of the medical screening exam for payment questions.
• Search the MPI before creating a chart.
• ABN, HIPAA notice, and consent are different arrival documents.
• Observation versus inpatient is an order, not a registrar guess.
• Wrong subscriber ID and missing authorization become denials later.

Traps

• Booking a gated procedure with no order or auth.
• Creating a third chart for a known patient.
• Using a child as the interpreter.
• Merging ABN and HIPAA into one blank form.

Shortcuts

• Order, auth, prep before the slot is real.
• Status change is a documented event.
• Estimates come from verified benefits and written policy.

Terms

• EMPI. Enterprise master patient index. How you stop duplicate charts.
• EMTALA. Do not delay a required emergency medical screening to ask about money.
• Condition Code 44. A physician changed inpatient to outpatient with utilization review involvement.
• Patient class. Inpatient, observation, outpatient, or ED. Must match the order.
• Financial clearance. Identity, eligibility, authorization, and estimate before the visit.
• HCAHPS. Patient-experience survey. Access behaviors show up in communication items.

Memory hooks

• TWO-THEN-OPEN. Two identifiers, then the record Every registration action.