Billing project update featured at ANI - HFMA News - HFMA will provide an update of patient friendly billing activities at the 2003 Annual National Institute in Baltimore - Brief Article

Healthcare Financial Management, May, 2003

HFMA will provide an update of PATIENT FRIENDLY BILLING[R] activities on Monday, June 23, at the 2003 Annual National Institute (ANT) in Baltimore. Patient Friendly Billing is a nationwide initiative to make financial communications with patients clear, concise, and correct. HFMA leads the initiative, in partnership with the American Hospital Association, the Medical Group Management Association, and other provider and consulting organizations.

Project leader Terry Rappuhn, CPA, principal, Rappuhn Consulting, will discuss progress made during the first and second phase of the project, which consisted of identifying ways to make billing communications easier for patients and their families and creating recommendations based on this research. During the session, Rapphun also will discuss ways hospitals can incorporate these recommendations into their billing processes, systems, bills, and patient communications.

Rapphun also will provide an update of resources being created to facilitate industrywide adoption of Patient Friendly Billing, including:

* A patient glossary of billing terms

* A listing of patients' frequently asked questions about hospital bills

* An overview of the financial communications flow from a patient perspective

* Research findings on consumer and employee trends

* White papers on data accessibility, data coordination, patient responsibilities, payer responsibilities, physician and hospital responsibilities, charge description master and bill content review, recommendations regarding HIPAA transaction code sets, and recommended bill and statement formats

For information on the Patient Friendly Billing update and other ANI programs, go to www.hfma.org/education/ani/courses.htm.>

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