Hospitals and other healthcare providers around the country are struggling to improve the management of self-pay patient accounts, and nowhere is the need for a solution more urgent than in the emergency department. In order to help providers better serve self-pay patients--those individuals who must pay all or a portion of their medical bill--nTelagent, Inc. has developed The Retail Application for the healthcare industry, called the Self-Pay Management System (SPMS). Similar to applications used in the retail industry at the point of sale, the company's proprietary, automated system tells healthcare registrars and financial counselors exactly what to do and what to say to each patient at the point of service regarding their out-of-pocket financial responsibilities.
According to nTelagent chairman and CEO Earl T. Winter: "Managing patient financial accounts is especially difficult in the emergency department environment, due to the inherently hectic atmosphere and the fact that many patients coming through the doors are self-pay and lack adequate information, such as ID or insurance cards. Imperfect registration and discharge procedures result in missed opportunities for upfront and overall collections, as well as misclassified charity care. In addition, there is often a failure to screen for financial assistance programs, such as Medicaid and other state and local social services programs." All of these factors result in mounting bad debt, threatening the financial viability of EDs across the country.
