UAB Medicine, the third largest academic medical center in the nation is implementing athenaCoordinator Enterprise patient access services to improve care coordination in the ambulatory space. The implementation will streamline care transitions and patient referrals, in The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital, a multi-specialty ambulatory care site that serves more than 2,000 patients a day in 35 specialties.
The solution is expected to go-live in July allowing UAB Medicine to ensure patients move between care settings, the correct information follows them and is available at the right time, whether it is to support the moments of care or streamline reimbursement associated with care delivered.
“This is one of many important UAB Medicine initiatives as we continue to work to give our patients and their families the highest-quality care and best possible experience,” said UAB Health System CEO Will Ferniany. “These new patient access services allow information to follow the patient and for us to streamline care transitions, enhancing our ability to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs while maintaining the highest quality of world-class care.”
By using athenahealth’s patient access services, UAB staff will be able to ensure patients are already pre-certified and their correct insurance and referral information is completed before they show up for an appointment. Not only does this help speed [up] the check-in process and allow for more patient/physician interaction time, it also minimizes the risk of billing errors and unnecessary reimbursement follow up post-care.
athenahealth’s cloud-based network and service model facilitates the power of real-time intelligence; when payer requirements or a patient’s status changes, athenahealth is able to provide instant feedback to the care team and/or front desk staff. athenahealth’s ability to learn from activity across its national network allows for insight, scale and efficiency that health systems require to coordinate care confidently, knowing that appropriate payment will fall in-line with the care delivered and in a timely fashion. This model enables staff to focus on the care and leave administrative burdens behind.
