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CMW Sneak Peek: Increase your facility's access to healthcare while improving the bottom line

Case Management Weekly, July 16, 2008

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When Joel F. Karman, MSW, LSW, MPH, senior director of social services and guest relations at the University of Illinois Medical Center (UIMC) in Chicago, first pitched his idea to hire a full-time staff member charged with finding nontraditional funding resources for the uninsured, he knew it would raise a few eyebrows.

Karman’s facility was spending $506,000 per year on a contract company to review the hospital’s charity care claims, but still saw its bad debt increase due to unpaid hospital bills and rejected claims.

In 2003, Karman convinced his facility to allocate a little more than $30,000 to hire one full-time program services specialist (PSS) dedicated to finding new funding resources, with a plan to develop an entire financial case management unit (FCMU).

The PSS was charged with reviewing patients as they came to the hospital and notifying them of resources available, including mental health coverage and reimbursement of lost wages. In the first nine months of the program, 180 patients were identified as crime victims, 124 of whom had no insurance. But, says Karman, 33 of the 124 self-pay patients were approved for CVCA funding totaling $146,365, or about 43% of the facility’s total outstanding balance for treating the patients.

Check out the July 2008 issue of Case Management Monthly to get the full story, and check out all the benefits of being a Case Management Monthly subscriber!

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