It took two years to finish.

However, for Cathy Pallozzi, CHAM, CCS, director of patient access at Albany (NY) Medical Center and her team of access managers, constructing a new, comprehensive policy and procedure manual was worth the wait.

After all, Albany Medical's access team of about 95 full-time employees and 110 overall staff members had its struggles prior to the implementation of its policy and procedure manual, including:

Low staff morale. This was due to the absence of a structured monitoring process. Staff members wanted to do the right thing. “We, as managers, have the responsibility of providing them the tools to be successful,” says Pallozzi.

In a much anticipated move, CMS released the new Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) of Noncoverage March 3. This form, also known as the CMS-R-131, will be used for all Part B provider and supplier services. The form replaces the existing ABN-G and ABN-L, and it may also be used for voluntary notifications in place of the Notice of Exclusion from Medicare Benefits. It will not replace the SNF ABN (SNFABN-G) form, which is currently under development. (You can view the new ABN form on p. 7 of the PDF of this issue.)

Patient access managers must train their representatives to adapt to the new Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) of Noncoverage, which CMS released March 3 and that will be mandatory for facilities to use by September 1.

The focus of the 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.

In an age of competitive healthcare in which patients shop more than they ever have, some access managers may have already addressed cost estimates; now, they all have to address it.

The following is an actual form the Albany Medical Center’s patient access team used as part of its policy and procedure.