The Georgia Scroll
April 1998

Patient Financial Services - Go for the Gold!
By: Barbara G. Smith, CHFP

As the 18th Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, come to a close, we Americans can reflect back on the events and realize that we were privileged to have watched history in the making as the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team became the recipients of the first ever Olympic Gold Medal! Imagine the pride felt by every team member as their many years of hard work, dedication and effort culminated in a great victory.

Patient Financial Services Departments are teams with the same potential for achievement. Oftentimes we become so caught up in day to day operations that we fail to encourage and foster our team potential.

1. Commitment

PFS Directors are enjoying more longevity in staffing than ever before. Employees, through certification opportunities like CPAR, CHFP, and FHFMA, are striving to excel in their field by improving their skills, knowledge, and value to the organization.

Olympic athletes start at a very young age making a commitment to their sport, they push themselves, through constant practice and diligence, to new levels as they outgrow previous expectations and levels of play.

2. Education

With so much variation in the demands of the health care industry today, PFS employees must become knowledgeable of each payer’s specific coverage and billing criteria in order to be successful in obtaining maximum and accurate reimbursement. Taking advantage of seminars, both internal and external, promotes more comprehensive exposure to industry changes. One can never read enough to satisfy the abundance of information available on self-development in both the workplace and home.

Once an Olympic athlete learns about their sport, they seek new and unique ways to outsmart their competitors and gain the inside edge. By learning and taking advantage of what is available in the industry, athletes sharpen their blades and improve their skills to get the fastest time or the best scores.

3. Training

It requires a daily avocation to training to stay abreast of the changes that PFS departments are expected to abide by. Employees must now be cross trained on other PFS positions in order to understand the impact their job has on members of the PFS team. It takes time and effort to accomplish this, but the payoff is enhanced team performance and greater accomplishments.

Through consistent training and effort, Olympic athletes are always conditioning for improved outcomes and better ways in which to master their skills. What if the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team trained individually rather than as a team? Do you think the end result would have been the same?

4. Communication

Knowledge learned must be knowledge shared in order for the PFS Department to be successful. Group effort must be engaged to support both internal and external policies and procedures. No longer can we afford to have one specialist in our office that knows how to produce a medically necessary Medicare outpatient claim. We must all know and understand the process and share our knowledge with others to benefit our PFS team.

Olympic athletes are dependent upon constant communication with coaches to offer constructive criticism to push them to new levels and make needed improvement to gain better times and performance.

In years past, it was possible to hire a person with limited healthcare background and, in a short time, train them to be a PFS employee. As the industry challenges us with constant change, it is no longer easy to perform at high levels. Success in today’s healthcare environment requires a highly functioning, motivated PFS team. The challenges facing us are many: billing compliance, fraud and abuse issues, changing payer rules and regulations, to name just a few.

These challenges present opportunities to become an "Olympic" PFS Team. Fostering team growth through commitment, education, training and communication will result in great achievements and the ability to meet the challenges of the future.

Barbara G. Smith, CHFP, is the Business Office Director of Macon Northside Hospital, Macon, Georgia.

Back to April 1998 Scroll Index

Last modified: June 22, 2001