from the pages of PATIENT ACCESS WEEKLY ADVISOR

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The focus of the new ABN training should be on the new requirement for access staff members to provide a cost estimate of the service to the patient, says Yvonne Focke, RN, BSN, MBA, regional director of revenue cycle management at Mercy Health Partners in Cincinnati.

Scripting may be the best training method regarding the cost estimate, Focke says. Access managers can provide examples of what a patient may ask regarding the cost of a service, and access representatives can practice their answers.

Focke suggests adding in cost estimates manually during training. Later, an automated system of cost estimates would be beneficial to a facility and its access manager and representatives.

Develop scripts to practice explaining to patients why the form is needed and how you arrived at the cost information. Leaving dialogue with patients to chance is risky; doing so may result in patient complaints.