HFMA Unveils Patient Financial Interaction Best Practices

• Emergency Department Interactions (Download PDF): This set of Best Practices provides the needed guidelines to help physicians handle the most sensitive financial interactions with patients that take place in the Emergency Department.
• Time of Service (Outside the ED) Interactions (Download PDF): This set of Best Practices provides the needed guidelines to help physicians handle the most sensitive financial interactions with patients that take place at the time of service, outside the ED.
• Advance of Service Interactions (Download PDF): This set of Best Practices provides the needed guidelines to help physicians handle the most sensitive financial interactions with patients that take place in advance of service.
• Best Practices for All Patient Financial Interactions (Download PDF): This overarching set of Best Practices provides the needed guidelines to help provider organizations handle the most sensitive financial interactions with patients.
• PFI Measurement Criteria (Download PDF): The PFI Measurement Criteria was developed to guide the evaluation of an organization’s compliance with the PFI Best Practices.

HFMA is seeking input from its members, revenue cycle professionals, and other stakeholders for the next six weeks, after which the steering committee will review the comments and revise the documents if necesary.

Below is an example of one of the documents, “Best Practices for All Patient Financial Interactions”:

1.1. Compassion, patient advocacy and education should be part of all patient interactions.
1.2. Providers should have standard language to guide staff on the most common types of patient financial interactions.
1.3. Where appropriate, provider organizations should utilize face-to-face interactions to facilitate one-time resolution.
1.4. Availability of supportive financial assistance is always communicated to patients. Provider organizations should communicate and make financially supportive policies available to the community organizations should communicate and make financially supportive policies available to the community.
1.5. Service provider should take initiative to communicate with patient.
1.6. All personnel engaging in patient financial interactions (e.g., registration staff, financial counselors, financial clearance representatives, customer service staff) will receive annual training on the following:

• Patient Financial Interactions (PFI) Best Practices
• Financial assistance policies
• Common coverage solutions for the uninsured

1.7. Provider organizations should ensure broader education and awareness of the PFI Best Practices throughout their organization.
1.8. Provider organization should include patients when developing standard language used in patient financial interactions.
1.9. Providers should regularly survey their patients to assess performance against the PFI Best Practices.
1.10. Communication should be understandable by the patient.
1.11. Communication should include verification of patient information (mailing address, etc.) and the patients’ preferred methods for future communication.
1.12. Providers should have technology that gives financial representatives up-to-date information about patient balances and financial obligations.
1.13. In all patient financial interactions, patient privacy should be respected and conversations should occur in a location and manner that are sensitive to the patient’s needs.