Medical Assisting PDQ - E-Book

Jon H. Zonderman, Tracie Fuqua

Description

Have quick and accessible reference to all of the essential information for administrative and clinical medical assisting! This pocket-sized guide helps you recall and apply key information rapidly when you need it. Tabbed sections highlight everything from basic office and clinical procedures to specimen collection, emergency care, and HIPAA.

• Lists, acronyms, bullets, boxes, tables and figures make learning straightforward and easy to understand.
• Step-by-step procedure boxes reinforce proper techniques for 25 common procedures following CAAHEP and ABHES competencies.
• Full-color illustrations display common x-ray positions, capillary puncture sites, injection sites and patient exam positions.
• Spiral binding allows the book to lay open to the needed page.

Sujets

• Medical Assistants
• Allied Health Services
• Medical
• Médecine

Informations

• Publié par: Saunders
• Date de parution: 04 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781416064862
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents

Cover Image
Dedication
REVIEWERS
. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES
. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
. DIAGNOSTIC ORDERS
. PATIENT CARE
. PROFESSIONALISM
. COMMUNICATION SKILLS
. LEGAL CONCEPTS
. PATIENT INSTRUCTION
. OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONS
. PREPARING FOR AN EXTERNSHIP OR A NEW JOB
. COMMON WORDS AND PHRASES IN SPANISH
. CONVERSIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Index



Dedication
To all of my family for their supportand unconditional love.
Ethan and Kaitlynn, you are the lights of my life and the “best” “dark-eyed boy” and “blonde-haired girl” in the whole wide world.
Love, Mommy
In memory
Of my oldest sister, Sherry Ann Griffin Harrison, who died at the age of 42.



REVIEWERS
Kathy Aristy, RN, BSN

Independent Nurse Consultant and Clinical Research Nurse, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Durham, North Carolina
Rhonda McNellis, RN

Department Chair, Medical Programs, Missouri College St. Louis, Missouri
Linda K. Pruitt, MBA, CMA (AAMA)

Medical Assistant Program Chair, Ivy Tech Community College, Muncie, Indiana



. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES

Telephones 1

Appointments 6

Correspondence 7

Filing 12

Scheduling Admissions, diagnostic tests, and Procedures 13

Bookkeeping Procedures 14

Banking Procedures 14

Collecting co-Payments and completing charge slips 16

Entering charges in the Patient Account 17

Petty cash 19

Preparing reports 20

Billing and collections 20

Insurance Billing 22

Preparing the insurance claim Form 25

Resubmission of denied claims 32

TELEPHONES
The telephone is often the first point of contact with a patient. Managing the telephone is one of the most important jobs in the medical office. Remember, a first impression, even on the telephone, happens only once.

INCOMING TELEPHONE CALLS
Incoming calls can be routed either to the proper person electronically or through the person who answers the phone.
Find out if the office wants you to pick up a ringing telephone or if the person assigned to answer the telephone should respond.

CALLS REFERRED TO THE PHYSICIAN
The medical assistant (MA) can handle some calls. Others must be routed to a physician or other licensed professional. If the physician is with a patient, take a message, making certain to record all needed information. Let the caller know approximately when the physician will return the call.
Calls are referred to a physician for the following reasons:

• To provide a patient with test results

• To receive a report of satisfactory or unsatisfactory progress from a patient

• To receive a call from another physician To answer medical questions from a patient
In some practices, requests for prescription renewals are also routed to a physician. In other offices, the MA may take a message, obtain a physician's approval, and then “call in” the new prescription to the pharmacy.

“DO-NOTS” REGARDING INCOMING CALLS

• Do not interrupt a physician who is with a patient unless the call is from another physician. If the physician is in the middle of a procedure, do not interrupt; explain the situation to the physician who is calling and ask when the call can be returned.

• Do not place another physician on hold except for the purpose of transferring the call.

• Do not discuss a telephone call with a physician in front of a patient; speak to the physician over the telephone rather than over the open intercom. You may also give the physician a message slip.

HANDLING EMERGENCY CALLS
If an emergency call comes in, follow the office policy for handling emergency calls, which may include the following:

• Remain calm.

• Never place the caller on hold.

• If possible, ask a physician or other licensed professional to take the call immediately. (Write a note and ask someone to take it to the physician, or have someone page the physician on another line.)

• Record all pertinent information about the caller and the person experiencing the emergency (e.g., name, telephone number, and address from which the call is coming).

• If you are alone, tell the person to go to a hospital emergency room. If the person does not have transportation or is too ill to drive, instruct the patient to call an ambulance (usually 9-1-1) or you call the ambulance.

• If you must call 9-1-1, use a different telephone if possible to avoid placing the emergency call on hold.

• If you called 9-1-1, continue to speak to the individual until you hear the emergency response team arrive.

• If the emergency is a poisoning, refer the caller to the local poison control hot line or call the poison hot line yourself.

• Document the exact date and time of the call, the instructions you gave, and your initials.

PROBLEM CALLS
Problem calls include those from a person who refuses to give information about the purpose of the call, calls with complaints, and calls from a patient who has special problems.
If the caller refuses to give information about the purpose of the call:

• Ask if the person is an established patient to verify whether you should be giving any information to them at all.

• Explain that you need a name, telephone number, and purpose of the call so that you can ensure the proper person responds to the caller.

• Instruct the caller to write a letter if he or she does not wish to leave the necessary information for a return call.

• If the caller persists in refusing, it may be because she or he is embarrassed or unsure how to articulate what is really wrong. Write on the message note to the physician that the patient refused to state the reason for the call.
For the caller with a complaint or a patient with a special problem:

• Listen carefully, and be patient.

OUTGOING CALLS

• Do not use the incoming telephone line to make an outgoing call; patients will not be able to get through to the office.

• If you place a long-distance call, verify that you are calling within normal business hours.


APPOINTMENTS
Appointment scheduling and appointment flow are factors in patient satisfaction. If you are asked to make appointments, either for patients in the office or over the telephone, determine the following:

• Time allotted for different types of visits (e.g., new patient, established patients, follow-up visits)

• Information needed from the patient who is making the appointment

• Particular preparation instructions for patients scheduling certain types of appointments (e.g., fasting laboratory tests)

• Type of appointment scheduling system the office uses (e.g., appointment book, computer) and whether the office “double-books”

DAILY APPOINTMENT SCHEDULE
If you are checking in patients when they arrive, remember that the daily appointment schedule is the office's official, legal record. Any necessary changes (e.g., cancellations, no-shows, add-ins) should be made in red ink. Patient sign-in logs should be designed to ensure privacy; either individual sign-in sheets or peel-off labels are best.

SICK AND URGENT VISITS
Sometimes physicians will see patients who need urgent appointments. Determine whether urgent visits are worked into the schedule of the patient's primary physician or if one physician is assigned to handle each day's urgent visits.
Refer to the office's procedures manual to determine what questions to ask to determine how serious the problem is and what type of appointment to offer. Know what are considered urgent symptoms at your facility.

CORRESPONDENCE
Medical offices generate a lot of correspondence, and preparing letters and envelopes may be your responsibility.

SECTIONS OF THE BUSINESS LETTER
The business letter has the following four sections:

1. Heading: Sender's name and address

2. Opening: Date the letter is written, to whom the letter is being sent, and the greeting

3. Body: Substance of the letter

4. Closing: Complimentary salutation, signature, signature line, and any reference notations (If you are keying letters from dictation or from a physician's notes, the physician's initials should be capitalized, followed by a backslash, and then your initials in lowercase.)

THINGS TO FIND OUT
If you are asked to prepare correspondence, find out the following:

• Where the office stationery supply (e.g., letterheads, envelopes) is stored and what letter format to use (e.g., block, modified block, semiblock, simplified)

• What complementary closing to use (e.g., sincerely, cordially, with best regards )
Ask the office manager or MA who is working with you as a mentor to see two or three old letters to follow as examples. Many offices use form letters or templates, which are filed in the computer and which require that only the patient's name and other information (e.g., appointment date and time or outstanding amount of a bill) be inserted before mailing.

Letter Formats

Block or full-block format— All lines are justified left and are ragged right.
Modified block formatR