How People, Process, and Technology Lead to Healthcare Patient Access Best Practices and Success

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How People, Process, and Technology
Lead to Healthcare Patient Access
Best Practices and Success
Transcript of a discussion on how caregiver organizations on-board and manage patient access
services and how people, process, and technology combine to improve how those patients
perceive their total healthcare experiences.
Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Download the transcript. Sponsor: HealthPay24.
Dana Gardner: Hi, this is Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, and
you’re listening to BriefingsDirect. Our next healthcare finance insights discussion
explores the rapidly changing ways that caregiver organizations on-board and manage
patients.
How patients access their healthcare is transitioning to the digital world -- but often in fits
and starts. This key process nonetheless plays a major role in how patients perceive
their overall experiences and determines how well providers manage both care and
finances.
Stay with us now as we unpack the people, process, and technology elements of
modern patient access best practices. To learn more, we are joined by our expert panel,
Jennifer Farmer, Manager of Patient Access and Admissions at Massachusetts Eye and
Ear Infirmary in Boston. Welcome, Jennifer.
Jennifer Farmer: Thank you for having me.
Gardner: Also with us is Sandra Beach, Manager of
the Central Registration Office, Patient Access, and
Services and Pre-Services at Cooley Dickinson
Healthcare in Northampton, Mass. Welcome, Sandra.
Sandra Beach: Thank you.
Gardner: We are also here with Julie Gerdeman,
CEO of HealthPay24 in Mechanicsburg, Penn.
Welcome, Julie.
Julie Gerdeman: Thanks so much, Dana, I’m excited to be here.
Gardner: Let’s start with the perspective of how things have changed. Jennifer, for you
and your organization, how has the act of bringing a patient into a healthcare
environment -- into a care situation -- changed in the past five years?
Farmer

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Healthcare at your fingertips
Farmer: The technology has exploded and it’s at everyone’s fingertips. So five years
ago, patients would come to us, from referrals, and they would use the old-fashioned
way of calling to schedule an appointment. Today it is much easier for them. They can
simply go online to schedule their appointments.
They can still do walk-ins as they did in the past, but it’s much easier access now
because we have the ways and means for the patients to be triaged and given the
appropriate information so they can make an appointment right then and there, versus
waiting for their provider to call to say, “Hey, we can schedule your appointment.”
Patients just have it a lot easier than they did in the past.
Gardner: Is that due to technology? It seems to me that when I used to go to a
healthcare organization they would be greeting me by handing me a clipboard, but now
they are always sitting at a computer. How has the digital experience changed this?
Farmer: It has changed it drastically. Patients
can now complete their accounts online and
so the person sitting at the desk already has
that patient’s information. So the clipboard is
gone. That’s definitely something patients
like. We get a lot of compliments on that.
It’s easier to have everything submitted to us electronically, whether it’s medical records
or health insurance. It’s also easier for us to communicate with the patient through the
electronic health record (EHR). If they have a question for us or we have a question for
them, the health record is used to go back and forth.
There are not as many phone calls as there used to be, not as many dropped ends.
There is also the advent of telemedicine these days so doctors can have a discussion or
a meeting with the patient on their cell phones. Technology has definitely changed how
medicine is being distributed as well as improving the patient experience.
Gardner: Sandra, how important is it to get this right? It seems to me that first
impressions are important. Is that the case with this first interception between a patient
and this larger, complex healthcare organization and even ecosystem?
Beach: Oh, absolutely. I agree with Jennifer that so many things have changed over the
last five years. It’s a benefit for patients because they can do a lot more online, they can
electronically check-in now, for example, that’s a new function. That’s going to be
coming with [our healthcare application] Epic so that patients can do that all online.
Patients can now complete their
accounts online … so the
clipboard is gone. That’s
definitely something patients like.

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The patient portal experience is really important too because patients can go in there
and communicate with the providers. It’s really important for our patients as telemedicine
has come a huge distance over the years.
Gardner: Julie, we know how important getting that digital trail of a patient from the start
can be; the more data the better. How have patient access best practices been helped
or hindered by technology? Are the patients perceiving this as a benefit?
Gerdeman: They are. There has been a huge
improvement in patient experience from technology
and the advent and increase in technology. A
patient is also a consumer. We are all just people
and in our daily lives we do more research.
So, for patient access, even before they book an
appointment, either online or on the phone, they pull
out their phones and do a ton of research about the
provider institution. That’s just like folks do for
anything personal, such as a local service like a dry
cleaning or a haircut. For anything in your
neighborhood or community, you do the same for
your healthcare because you are a consumer.
The same level of consumer support
that’s expected in our modern daily
lives has now come to be expected
with our healthcare experiences.
Leveraging technology for access,
and as Jennifer and Sandra
mentioned, the actual clinical
experience -- via telemedicine and digital transformation -- is just getting into and will
continue to impact healthcare.
Gardner: We have looked at this through the lens of the experience and initial
impressions -- but what about economics? When you do this right, is there a benefit to
the provider organization? Is there a benefit to the patient in terms of getting all those
digital bits and bytes and information in the right place at the right time? What are the
economic implications, Jennifer?
Technology saves time and money
Farmer: They are two-fold. One, the economic implication for a patient is that they don’t
necessarily have to take a day off from work or leave work early. They are able to
continue via telemedicine, which can be done through the evening. When providers offer
evening and weekend appointments, that’s to satisfy the patient so they don’t have to
spend as much time trying to rearrange things, get daycare, or pay for parking.
Leveraging the technology for access
… and the actual clinical experience ---
via telemedicine and digital
transformation – is just getting into and
will continue to impact healthcare.
Gerdeman

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For the provider organization, the economic implications are that we can provide
services to more patients, even as we streamline certain services so that it’s all more
efficient for the hospital and the various providers. Their time is just as valuable as
anyone else’s. They also want to reduce the wait times for someone to see a patient.
The advent of using technology across different avenues of care reduces that wait time
for available services. The doctors and technicians are able to see more patients, which
obviously is an economic positive for the hospital’s bottom line.
Gardner: Sandra, patients are often not just having one point of intersection, if you will,
with these provider organizations. They probably go to a clinic, then a specialist, perhaps
rehabilitation, and then use pharmaceutical services. How do we make this more of a
common experience for how patients intercept such an ecosystem of healthcare
providers?
Beach: I go back to the EHRs that Jennifer talked
about. With us being in a partner system, no matter
where you go -- you could go to a rehab appointment, a
specialist, to the cancer center in Boston -- all your
records are accessible for the physicians, and for the
patients. That’s a huge step in the right direction
because, no matter where the patient goes, you can
access the records, at least within our system.
Gardner: Julie, to your point that the consumer
experience is dictating people’s expectations now, this
digital trail and having that common view of a patient
across all these different parts of the organization is
crucial. How far along are we with that? It seems to me that we are not really fully baked
across that digital experience.
Gerdeman: You’re right, Dana. I think the partner approach is an amazing exception to
the rule because they are able to see and share data across their own network.
Throughout the rest of the country, it’s a bit more fractured and splintered. There
remains a lot of friction in accessing records as you move -- even in some cases within
the same healthcare system -- from a clinic or the emergency department (ED) into the
facility or to a specialist.
The challenge is one of interoperability of data and integration of that data. Hospitals
continue to go through a lot of mergers and acquisitions, and every acquisition creates a
new challenge.
From the consumer perspective, they want that to be invisible. It should be invisible, the
right data should be on their phones regardless of what the encounter was, what the
Beach

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financial obligation for the encounter was -- all of it. So that’s the expectation and what’s
still happening. There is a way to go in terms of interoperability and integration from the
healthcare side.
Gardner: We have addressed the process and the technology, but the third leg on the
stool here is the people. How can the people who interact with patients at the outset
foster a better environment? Has the role and importance of who is at that initial
intercept with the patient been elevated? So much rides on getting the information up
front. Jennifer, what about the people in the role of accessing and on-boarding patients,
what’s changed with them?
Get off to a great start
Farmer: That is the crux of the difference between a good patient experience and a
terrible patient experience, that first interaction. So folks who are scheduling
appointments and maybe doing registration -- they may be at the information desk --
they are all the drivers to making sure that that patient starts off with a great experience.
Most healthcare organizations are
delving into different facets of
customer service in order to ensure
that the patient feels great and like
they belong when they come into an
organization. Here at Mass. Eye and
Ear, we practice something called
Eye Care. Essentially, we think about how you would want yourself and your family
members to be treated, to make sure that we all treat patients who walk in the door like
they are our family members.
When you lead with such a positive approach it downstreams into that patient’s feelings
of, “I am in the right place. I expect my care to be fantastic. I know that I’m going to
receive great care.” Their positive initial outlook generally reflects the positive outcome
of their overall visit.
Gain a Detailed Look at Patient
Financial Engagement Strategies
This has changed dramatically even within the past two to three years. Most providers
are siloed, with different areas or departments. That means patients would hear, “Oh,
sorry, we can’t help you. That’s not our area.” To make it a more inclusive experience,
everyone in the organization is a brand ambassador.
We have to make sure that people understand that, to make it more inclusive for the
patient and less hectic for the patient, no matter where you are within a particular
organization. I’m sure Sandra can speak to this as well. We are all important to that
Essentially, we think about how you
would want yourself and your family
members to be treated, to make sure
that we all treat patients who walk in the
door like they are our family members.

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patient, so if you don’t know the answer, you don’t have to say, “I don’t know.” You can
say, “Let me get someone who can assist you. I’ll find some information for you.”
It shouldn’t be work for them when patients walk in the door. They should be treated as a
guest, welcomed and treated as a family member. Three or four years ago, it was
definitely the mindset of, “Not my job.” At other organizations that I visit, I do see more of
a helpful environment, which has changed the patient perception of hospitals as well.
Beach: I couldn’t agree more, Jennifer. We have the same thing here as with your Eye
Care. I ask our staff every day, “How would you feel if you were the patient walking in
our door? Are we greeting patients with a nice, warm, friendly smile? Are we asking,
‘How can I help you today?’ Or, ‘Good morning, what can I do for you today?’”
We keep that at the forefront for our staff so they are
thinking about this every time that they greet a
patient, every day they come to work, because
patients have choices, patients can go to other
facilities, they can go to other providers.
We want to keep our patients within our healthcare system. So it’s really important that
we have a really good patient experience on the front end, because Jennifer is correct, it
has a positive outcome on the back end. If they start off in the very beginning with a
scheduler or a registrar or an ED check-in person, and they are not greeted in a friendly,
warm atmosphere, then typically that’s what sets off their total visit. That seems to be
what they remember. That first interaction is really what they remember.
Gardner: Julie, this reflects back on what’s been happening in the consumer world
around the user experience. It seems obvious.
So I’m curious about this notion of competition between healthcare providers. That might
be something new as well. Why do healthcare provider organizations need to be thinking
about this perception issue? Is it because people could pick up and choose to go
somewhere else? How has competition changed the landscape when it comes to
healthcare?
Competing for consumers’ care
Gerdeman: Patients have choices. Sandra described that well. Patients, particularly in
metropolitan or suburban areas, have lots of options for primary care, specialty care, and
elective procedures. So healthcare providers are trying to respond to that.
In the last few years you have seen not just consumerism from the patient experience,
but consumerism in terms of advertising, marketing, and positioning of healthcare
services -- like we have never seen before. That competition will continue and become
even more fierce over time.
Patients have choices,
patients can go to other
facilities, they can go to
other providers.

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Providers should put the patient at the center of everything that they do. Just as Jennifer
and Sandra talked about, putting the patient at the heart and then showing empathy from
the very first interaction. The digital interaction needs to show empathy, too. And there
are ways to do that with technology and, of course, the human interaction when you are
in the facility.
Patients don’t want to be patients most of
the time. They want to be humans and live
their lives. So, the technology supporting all
of that becomes really crucial. It has to
become part of that experience. It has to
arm the patient access team and put the
data and information at their fingertips so
they can look away from a computer or a kiosk and interact with that patient on a
different level. It should arm them to have better, empathic interactions and build trust
with the patient, with the consumer.
Gardner: I have seen that building competition where I live in New Hampshire. We have
had two different nationally branded critical-care clinics open up -- pop-up like
mushrooms in the spring rain -- in our neighborhood.
Let’s talk about the experience not just for the patient but for that person who is in the
position of managing the patient access. The technology has extended data across the
partner organization. But still technology is often not integrated in the back end for the
poor people who are jumping between four and five different applications -- often
multiple systems -- to on-board patients.
What’s the challenge from the technology for the health provider organization, Jennifer?
One system, one entry point, it’s Epic
Farmer: That used to be our issue until we gained the Epic system in 2016. People
going into multiple applications was part of the issue with having a positive patient
experience. Every entry point that someone would go to, they would need to repeat their
name and date of birth. It looked one way in one system and it looked another way in a
different system. That went away with Epic.
Epic is one system, the registration or the patient access side. It is also the coding side,
it’s billing, it’s medical records, it’s clinical care, medications, it’s everything.
So for us here at Mass. Eye and Ear, no matter where you go within the organization,
and as Sandra mentioned earlier, we are part of the same Partners HealthCare system.
You can actually go to any Partners facility and that person who accesses your account
can see everything. From a patient access standpoint, they can see your address and
phone number, your insurance information, and who you have as an emergency contact.
Patients don’t want to be patients
most of the time. They want to be
humans and live their lives. So,
the technology supporting all of
that becomes really crucial.

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There isn’t that anger that
patients had been feeling
before, because now they
are literally giving their
name and date of birth only
as a verification point. It
does make it a lot easier for
our patients to come through the door, go to different departments for testing, for their
appointment, for whatever reason that they are here, and not have to show their
insurance card 10 times.
If they get a bill in the mail and they are calling our billing department, they can see the
notes that our financial coordinators, our patient access folks, put on the account when
they were here two or three months ago and help explain why they might have gotten a
bill. That’s also a verification point, because we document everything.
So, a financial coordinator can tell a patient they will get a bill for a co-pay or for co-
insurance and then they get that bill, they call our billing team, they say, “I was never told
that,” but we have documentation that they were told. So, it’s really one-stop shopping
for the folks who are working within Epic. For the patient, nine times out of 10 they just
can go from floor to floor, doctor to doctor, and they don’t have to show ID again,
because everything is already stored in Epic.
Beach: I agree because we are on Epic as well. Prior to that, three years ago, it would
be nothing for my registrars to have six, seven systems up at the same time and have to
toggle back and forth. You run a risk by doing that, because you have so many systems
up and you might have different patients in the system, so that was a real concern.
If a patient came in and didn’t have an order from the provider, we would have to call
their office. The patient would have to wait. We might call two or three times.
Now, we have one system. If the patient doesn’t have the order, it’s in the computer
system. We just have to bring it up, validate it, patient gets checked in, patient has their
exam, and there is no wait. It’s been a huge win for us for sure -- and for our patients.
Gardner: Privacy and compliance regulations play a more important role in the
healthcare industry than perhaps anywhere else. We have to not only be mindful of the
patient experience, but also address these very important technical issues around
compliance and security. How are you able to both accomplish caring for the patient and
addressing these hefty requirements?
It’s healthy to set limits on account access
Farmer: Within Epic, access is granted by your role. Staff that may be working in
admitting or the ED or anywhere within patient access, but they don’t have access to
someone’s medication list or their orders. However, another role may have access.
[Epic] does make it a lot easier for our patients
to come through the door, go to different
departments for testing, for their appointment,
for whatever reason that they are here, and not
have to show their insurance card 10 times.

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Compliance is extremely important.
Access is definitely something that is
taken very seriously. We want to make
sure that staff are accessing accounts
appropriately and that there are guardrails
built in place to prevent someone from
accessing accounts if they should not be.
For instance, within the Partners HealthCare system, we do tend to get people of a
certain status; we get politicians, we get celebrities, we get heads of state, public figures
that go to various hospitals, even outside of Partners that are receiving care. So we have
locks on those particular accounts for employees. Their accounts are locked.
So if you try to access the account, you get a hard stop. You have to complete why you
are accessing this account, and then it is reviewed immediately. And if it’s determined
that your role has nothing to do with it, you should not be accessing this particular
account, then the organization does takes necessary steps to investigate and either say
yes, they had a reason to be in this account, or no, they did not, and the potential of
termination is there.
But we do take privacy very seriously within the system and then outside of the system.
We make sure we are providing a safe space for people to be able to provide us with
their information. It is on the forefront, it drives us, and folks definitely are aware because
it is part of their training.
Beach: You said it perfectly, Jennifer. Because we do have a lot of people that are high
profile and that do come through our healthcare systems the security, I have to say, is
extremely tight on records. And so it should be. If you are in a record, and you shouldn’t
be there, then there are consequences to that.
Gardner: Julie, in addition to security and privacy we have also had to deal with a
significant increase in the complexity around finances and payments given how insurers
and the payers work. Now there are more copays, more kinds of deductibles. There are
so many different plans: platinum, gold, silver, bronze.
In order to keep the goal of a positive patient experience, how are we addressing this
new level of complexity when it comes to the finances and payments? Do they go hand-
in-hand, the patient experience, the access, and the economics?
A clean bill of health for payment processes
Gerdeman: They do, and they should, and they will continue to. There will remain
complexity in healthcare. It will improve certainly over time, but with all of the changes
we have seen complexity is a given. It will be there. So how to handle the complexity,
We want to make sure that staff
are accessing accounts
appropriately and that there are
guardrails built in place to prevent
someone from accessing accounts
if they should not be.

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with technology, with efficient process, and with the right people becomes more and
more important.
There are ways to make the complex simple with the right technology. On the back end,
behind that amazing patient experience -- both the clinical experience and also the
financial experience – we try to shield the patient. At HealthPay24 we are focused on
financial experience and taking all of the data that’s behind there and presenting it very
simply to a patient.
That means one small screen on the phone -- with different encounters and different
back ends – of being able to present that very simply for our patients to meet their
financial obligations. They are not concerned that the ED had one different electronic
medical record (EMR) than the specialist. That’s really not the concern of the patient, nor
should it be. It’s the concern of how the providers can use technology in the back end to
then make it simple and change that experience.
We talked about loyalty, and that’s what drives
loyalty. You are going to keep coming back to a
great experience, with great care, and ease of
use. So for me, that’s all crucial as we go
forward with healthcare – the technology and the
role it plays.
Gardner: And Jennifer and Sandra, how do you see the relationship between the proper
on-boarding, access, and experience and this higher complexity around the economics
and finance? Do you see more of the patient experience addressing the economics?
Farmer: We have done an overhaul of our system, where it concerns patients, for
paying bills or for not having health insurance. Our financial coordinators are there to
assist our patients, whether by phone, email, in person. There are lots of different
programs we can introduce patients to.
We are certified counselors for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That means we
are able to help the patient apply for health insurance through the Health Connector for
Massachusetts as well as for the state Medicaid program called MassHealth. And so we
are here to help those patients go through that process.
We also have an internal program that can assist patients with paying their bills. We talk
to patients about different credit cards that are available for those that may qualify. And
essentially, the bottom line too is somebody just once again on a payment plan. So, we
take many factors, and we try to make it work as best as we can for the patient.
That’s what drives loyalty. You
are going to keep coming back
to a great experience, with
great care, and ease of use.

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At the end of the day, it’s about that patient receiving care and making sure that they are
feeling good about it. We definitely try to meet their needs and introduce them to
different things. We are here to support them, and at the end of the day it’s again about
their care. If they can’t pay anything right now, but they obviously need immediate
medical services, then we assure them, let’s focus on your care. We can talk about the
back end or we can talk about your bills at a different point.
We do provide them with different avenues, and we are pretty proud of that because I
like to believe that we are successful with it and so it helps the patient overall.
Gerdeman: It really does go to that patients want to meet their obligations, but they
need options to be able to do that. Those options become really important -- whether it’s
a loan program, a payment plan, applying for financial assistance – and technology can
enable all of these things.
For HealthPay24, we enable an eligibility check right in the platform so you don’t have to
worry about others knowing. You can literally check for eligibility by clicking a button and
entering a few fields to know if you should be talking to financial counseling at a
provider.
You can apply for payment plans, if the providers
opt for that. It will be proactively offered based on
demographic data to a patient through the platform.
You can also apply for loans, for revolving credit,
through the platform. Much of what patients want
and need financially is now available and enabled
by technology.
Gardner: Sandra, such unification across the financial, economic, and care giving roles
strikes me as something that’s fairly new.
Beach: Yes, absolutely it is. We have a program in our ED, for example, that we
instituted a year ago. We offer an ED discharge service so when the patient is
discharged, they stop at our desk and we offer these patients a wide variety of payment
options. Or maybe they are homeless and they are going through a tough time. We can
tell them where they can go to get a free meal or spend the night. There are a whole
bunch of programs available.
That’s important because we will never turn a patient away. And when patients come
through our ED, they need care. So when they leave, we want to be able to help them as
much as we can by supporting them and giving them these options.
We have also made phone calls for our patients as well. If they need to get someplace
just to spend the night, we will call and we will make that arrangement for those patients.
So when they leave, they know they have a place to go. That’s really important because
people go through hard times.
Much of what patients
want and need financially
is now available and
enabled by technology.

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Gardner: Sandra, do you have any other examples of processes or approaches to
people and technology that you have put in place recently? What have been some of the
outcomes?
Check-in at home, spend less time waiting
Beach: Well, the ED discharge service has made a huge impact. We saw probably
7,000-8,000 patients through that desk over the last year. We really have helped a lot of
patients. But we are also there just to lend an ear. Maybe they have questions about
what the doctor just said to them, but they really weren’t sure what he said. So it’s just
made a huge impact for our patients here.
Gardner: Jennifer, same question, any processes you have put in place, examples of
things that have worked and what are the metrics of success?
Farmer: We just rolled out e-check-in. So I don’t have any metrics on it just yet, but this
is a process where the patient can go to their MyChart or their EHR and check in for an
appointment prior to the day. They can also pay their copay. They can provide us with
updates to their insurance information, address or phone number, so when they actually
come to their appointment, they are not stopping at the desk to sign in or do check in.
That seems to be a popular option for the office visitor currently piloting this, and we are
hoping for a big success. It will be rolled out to other entities, but right now that is
something that we are working on. It’s tying in the technology, the patient care, for the
patient access. It’s tying in the ease of the check-in with that patient. And so again, we
are hoping that we have some really positive metrics on that.
Gardner: What sort of timeframe are we talking about here in terms of start to finish
from getting that patient into their care?
Farmer: So if they are walking in the
door because they have already done
e-check-in, they are immediately going
in for their appointment, because they
are showing up on time, they are
expected, they are going right in, so the
time that the patient is sitting there
waiting in line, sitting in the waiting area, that’s being reduced; the time that they have to
talk to someone about any changes or confirming everything that we have on their
account, that time is being reduced.
And then we are hoping to test this in a pilot program for the next month to six weeks to
see what kind of data we can get and hopefully that will -- just across the board, just help
with that check in process for patients and reduce that time for the folks who are at the
desk and they can focus on other tasks as well. So we are giving them back their time.
If ... they have already done e-
check-in, they are immediately going
in for their appointment, because
they are showing up on time, they
are expected, they are going right in.

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Gardner: Julie, this strikes me in the parlance of other industries as just-in-time
healthcare, and it’s a good move. I know you deal with a national group of providers and
payers. Any examples, Julie, that demonstrate and illustrate the positive direction we are
going with patient access and why technology is an important part of that?
Just-in-time and beyond, for future wellness
Gerdeman: I refer to Christopher Penn's model of People, Process, and Technology
here, Dana, because when people touch process, there is scale, and when process and
technology intersect, there is automation. But most importantly, when people intersect
with technology, there is innovation, and what we are seeing is not just incremental
innovation -- but huge leaps in innovation.
What Jen just described as that experience of just-in-time healthcare, that is literally a
huge need, that’s a leap, right? We have come to expect it when we reserve a table via
OpenTable, when we e-check-in for a hair appointment. I go back to that consumer
experience, but that innovation, right, that’s happening all across healthcare.
One of the things that we just launched,
which we are really excited about, is
predictive analytics tied to the payment
platform. If you know and can anticipate
the behaviors and the patterns of a
demographic of patients, financially
speaking, then it will help ease the
patient experience in what they owe, how
they pay, and what’s offered to them. It
boosts the bottom line of providers,
because they are going to get increased
revenue collection.
So where predictive analytics is going in healthcare and tying that to the patient
experience and to the financial systems, I think will become more and more important.
And that leads to even more -- there is so much emerging technology on the clinical side
and we will continue to see more emerging technology on the back-end systems and the
financial side as well.
Gardner: Before we close out, perhaps a look to the future, and maybe even a wish list.
Jennifer, if you had a wish list for how this will improve in the next few years, what’s
missing, what’s yet to come, what would you like to see available with people, process,
and technology?
Farmer: I go back to just patient care, and while we are in a very good spot right now, it
can always improve. We need more providers, we need more technicians, we need
more patient access folks, and the sense of being able to take care of people because
We are really excited about
predictive analytics tied to the
payment platform. If you know and
can anticipate the behaviors and
patterns of a demographic of
patients, financially speaking, then it
will help ease the patient experience
in what they owe, how they pay, and
what’s offered to them.

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the population is growing and whether you know it or not, you are going to need a doctor
at some point.
So I think continuing on the path that we are on of providing excellent customer service,
listening to patients, being empathetic. Also providing them with options; different
appointment times, different finance options, different providers, it can only get better.
Beach: I absolutely agree. We have a really good computer system, we have the EMRs,
but I would have to agree with Jennifer as well that we really need more providers. We
need more nurses to take care of our patients.
Gardner: So it comes down to human resources. How about those front-line people who
are doing the patient access intercept? Should they have an elevated status, role, and
elevated pay schedule?
Farmer: It’s really tough for the patient access people because on the front line -- every
minute of every day, eight to 10 hours a day -- they are working on that front line, so
sometimes that’s tough.
It’s really important that we keep training with them. We give them options of going to
customer service classes, because their role has changed from basically checking in a
patient to now making sure if their insurance is correct. We have so many different
insurance plans these days. To know each of those elevates that registrar to be almost
an expert in that field in order to be able to help the patient and get them through that
registration process, and the bottom line -- to get reimbursed for those services. So it’s
really come a long way.
Gardner: Julie, on this future perspective, what do you think will be coming down the
pike for provider organizations like Jennifer and Sandra’s in terms of technology and
process efficiency? How will the technology become even more beneficial?
Gerdeman: It’s going to be a big balancing act. What I mean by that is we are now
officially more of an older country than a younger country in terms of age. People are
living longer, they need more care than ever before, and we need the systems to be able
to support that. So, everything that was just described is critical to support our aging
population.
But what I mean by the balancing act is we have a whole other generation entering into
healthcare as patients, as providers, and as technologists. This new generation has a
completely different expectation of what that experience should and will be. They might
have an expectation that their wearable device should give all of that data to a provider.
That they wouldn’t need to explain it, that it should all be there all day, not just that they

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walk in and have just-in-time, but all the health data is communicated ahead of time,
before they are walking in and then having a meaningful conversation about what to do.
This new generation is going to shift us to
wellness care, not just care when we are
sick or injured. I think that’s all changing.
We are starting to see the beginnings of
that focus on wellness. And wearables and
devices, and how they are used, the providers are going to have to juggle that with the
aging population and traditional services -- as well as the new. Technology is going to be
a key, core part of that going forward.
Gardner: I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it there. You have been listening to a sponsored
BriefingsDirect healthcare finance insights discussion on the rapidly changing ways that
caregiver organizations are on-boarding and managing patient access.
And we have learned how patient access best practices in the digital age require an
adept interplay between people, process, and technology.
So please join me in thanking our guests, Jennifer Farmer, Manager of Patient Access
and Admissions at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. Thank you so much,
Jennifer.
Farmer: Thank you very much for having me.
Gardner: And thank you also to Sandra Beach, Manager of Central Registration Office,
Patient Access and Services and Pre-Services at Cooley Dickinson Healthcare in
Northampton, Mass. Thank you so much, Sandra.
Beach: Thank you for the opportunity.
Gardner: And thank you so much to Julie Gerdeman, CEO of HealthPay24 in
Mechanicsburg, Penn.
Gerdeman: Thanks so much, Dana.
Gardner: And a big thank you to our audience as well for joining this HealthPay24-
sponsored healthcare thought leadership discussion. I’m Dana Gardner, Principal
Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, your host and moderator. Thanks again for listening, and
do come back next time.
Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Download the transcript. Sponsor: HealthPay24.
Transcript of a discussion on how caregiver organizations on-board and manage patient access
services and how people, process, and technology combine to improve how those patients
perceive their total healthcare experiences. Copyright Interarbor Solutions, LLC, 2005-2020. All
rights reserved.
The new generation is going to shift
us to wellness care, not just care
when we are sick or injured.

of 16
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