Tenet Healthcare's patient financial services subsidiary, Conifer Revenue Cycle Solutions, is saving money, cutting paper use and moving patients through the registration process by using a number of patient self-service applications including patient self check-in, according to a column in HealthLeaders Media.
Patients who are scheduled and have been pre-registered can quickly check in on the day of their appointment by using a kiosk located at several hospital points of entry. Patients use the kiosk to validate their account information, request changes to information and sign all of their admission/registration forms electronically. The kiosk check-in typically takes two to three minutes.
The health system reports it is considering using self-service kiosks for payment of liabilities, expanding patient self-registration and for accessing its online bill-pay portal.
Since implementing kiosks and online self-service applications a little more than a two years ago, the health system estimates it has eliminated roughly 30 million pieces of paper because it no longer has to print copies of privacy notices, Medicare forms and other documents. This will save at least $5 million in paper costs annually.
Tenet reported nearly 520,000 admissions in 2009 at 59 outpatient centers and 49 acute care hospitals. It had operating revenues of $9 billion.
