The Georgia Scroll
July 1997
The CPAR (Certified Patient Account Representative) program is a comprehensive educational credentialing project conceived by the Georgia Chapter in 1982 and developed through the years as its solution for meeting the training needs of healthcare organization's business office staff National HFMA has presented the Georgia Chapter with Outstanding Project Awards for this project many times in the past, including l995-96E The CPAR committee works with three main goals in mind:
- To provide a training program for front-line PFS Professionals.
- To provide certification recognition.
- To provide an annual reference document of PFS and Payor information (CPAR Manual)
The 1996-97 CPAR year was one of the most successful yet. A record breaking 538 persons registered for the exam and 191 achieved certification. To continue CPAR's trend of excellence, the committee is focusing on PBS Management involvement. We will be developing a Manager Resource Packet including a summer series of rest yourself questions, as well as a practice test. This new resource, coupled with the continued high quality of our free coaching sessions held around the state, should provide everything a manager would need to successfully prepare their staff for the exam without having to expend a great deal of their personal management time.
The committee also plans to personally call PBS professionals to enlist their support. In spite of last year's great participation, many PFS professionals are either unaware or not participating in the CPAR program. Through these outreach efforts and other CPAR improvements, we are expecting another great year for CPAR!