Ahead of the Patient Access Excellence online meeting taking place Tuesday, November 12th, we had the opportunity to sit down with panelist Shirley Krause, Director of Access Care at NY – UHS. Shirley will be participating as a panelist on a session that will focus on comprehensive, centralized scheduling – where it works. Read on to learn more about Shirley’s background, her career journey, challenges she and her team are facing, and what she’s looking forward to discussing during the upcoming event.
Please share with us a little about your professional background – how did you get your start in the healthcare industry, and what roles have you enjoyed the most thus far?
I have been working in the healthcare industry for over 30 years, starting off in several small private provider offices, getting to experience the clinical, clerical and billing perspectives. When working in a small practice you wear many hats and have to know many different types of activities, with providers themselves making many of the decisions unless related to federal or state guidelines and even then they just try to ensure they are compliant.
Over the years, I have done analytical and management which tends to be what I have enjoyed most. I currently oversee pre-surgical services, central scheduling, hospital and emergency department registration areas. Learning this part of healthcare has been everchanging and what I enjoy the most thus far.
Patient access teams are facing a great many challenges as we look towards the end of 2024 and into 2025. What challenges is your team currently working to solve, or what primary challenges are you working to address this year and into next?
Some of the challenges we have experienced and will work on for the end of 2024 and into 2025 is keeping up with the payer authorizations frequent changes/denials, staffing challenges, New York Hospital changes to self-pay laws, financial assistance and implementing patient payment consents.
We really appreciate you joining our upcoming panel on comprehensive or centralized scheduling. What is one area that you’re looking forward to discussing with the panelists and the audience during that session?
I am really excited about participating and look forward to discussing Epic’s Fast Pass and patient self-scheduling functions. We have consolidated some responsibilities that were previously handled in the office to offset the load for staff, in addition to a Provider Call Center and an Ancillary Call Center, and by centralizing these groups, it has helped the organization focus on making the patient the priority.
I’d like to better understand others challenges with authorizations, particularly obtaining authorization for diagnostic tests. Do they schedule patient appointments first, or obtain authorization first, and then have the patient scheduled?
There are many different workflow models, but most important is the need to ensure that gaps are closed with whichever model you have in your organization.
Thank you Shirley, for sharing your journey with us, and for contributing to the upcoming panel!
For additional information on the agenda for the meeting, check out the full details here.