Often shoved into quiet and out-of-the-way hallways, a hospital’s patient registration and accounting offices may not seem like the most glamourous of places. But they are nonetheless some of the most important pieces in a healthcare system that can make or break the efficiency of the entire organization. Any hiccup in scheduling, registration or accounting eventually filters out until every department feels the effects in one way or another.

Let’s explore these three areas of administrative work, the inefficiencies that plague each of them and their potential repercussions.

Patient scheduling

Appropriate patient scheduling is key to maintaining a healthy patient flow through your organization and to making sure your providers are making the most productive use of their time. On average, 27% of appointments in North America result in a “no-show.” And that’s if a patient even got to the point of scheduling an appointment. 61% of patients reported skipping doctor appointments due to challenges in the scheduling process. All in all, missed appointments cost healthcare organizations in the US approximately $150 billion per year.

Patient registration

When a patient is registered into your EHR, they’re beginning a journey through your healthcare system, and it’s vital that it starts on the right foot. Did you know that on average more than seven patients share the same name at a healthcare organization? Or that most health systems have an estimated duplication rate of 5.5% in their patient records and spend 109.6 hours per week resolving patient identity issues? Duplicate records also mean more denied claims, which cost an average of $43.83 per claim to correct. (And that’s not including costs associated with additional clinical labor!)

Not only is this a massive drain on your resources, but duplicate patient records can have a serious effect on patient safety as well. In fact, duplicate patient records account for nearly 2,000 preventable deaths and cost nearly $1.7 billion in malpractice costs each year.

Patient accounting

The billing process is one of the most important functions in a healthcare system (second only to providing patient care). Without sufficient levels of income, organizations cannot run properly and therefore cannot continue helping patients to the best of their ability.

But the staffing shortages plaguing healthcare aren’t limited to providers, a survey released in 2023 found that 100%—that’s right, 100%—of participants said that staffing shortages are also impacting their revenue cycle. That’s not surprising when you know that it can take about four minutes to process an acute patient claim for general inpatient visits and up to 100 minutes to process an inpatient surgical procedure. In the same survey, 70% of respondents indicated that payer reimbursement has been impacted the most, with higher denial rates resulting from lack of proper staff. And, as I mentioned before, it costs an average of $43.83 per claim to fight a denied claim—that can really start to add up!

The solution

At Altera, we aren’t just aware of these problems, we’re creating solutions for them. Our Sunrise™ Access Manager solution is designed to help organizations in all of these areas. Your staff will be able to access schedules curated for their specialty and keep track of no-shows, view available appointments and book appointments all in one place. The solution can also pair with a patient portal to send appointment reminders to patients. During registration, Sunrise Access Manager will alert your staff if they’re creating a duplicate patient record. Then the system completes an automated eligibility and medical necessity check and will provide a task list of corrections needed before the patient visit. Finally, Sunrise™ Financial Manager—another flexible module—includes a comprehensive accounting record that automates tasks, such as identifying and writing off bad debt, populating claims based on individual payer requirements and writing off balances for identified populations.

These are just a few of the features we’ve created to alleviate the burdens created by administrative work. To learn more about how Sunrise is solving today’s healthcare problems go here.