Product DescriptionThis digital document is an article from Mississippi Business Journal, Thomson Gale, 2 Published in February 2004. The length of the article is 914 words. The length of the page above on a typical 300-word side. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon. com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Citation Details Title: Small businesses feel that the benefits and costs of the House Insurance and the availability of important questions remain for many. (Focus Insurance & Benefits) Author: Becky GillettePublication: Mississippi Business Journal (Magazine / Journal) Date: 2 February 2004Publisher: Thomson GaleVolume: 26 Issue: 5 Page: 19 (1) Distributed by Thomson Gale
Posts Tagged ‘Important’
Small businesses believe that the benefits and costs of the House Insurance and the availability of important questions remain for many. (Focus on insurance and workers’ … Article from: Mississippi Business Journal
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010Why it is Important to Have Health Insurance
Friday, May 28th, 2010Rehabilitation Hospital: 7 Important Questions to Ask First
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010If your medical team is recommending a stay in a rehabilitation hospital before you go home, you probably need to get stronger and the rehab hospital is the perfect place for intensive therapy. Below are seven questions you will want to ask.
1. How much therapy is planned?
At a rehab hospital, each patient is placed in an intensive therapy program, based on individual needs. A patient will often receive several hours of therapy per day to aid in recovery, which may be a combination of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
2. Why is a rehab hospital being recommended for me?
In most cases, you are sent to a rehab hospital when you are too “well” for the acute care hospital but not yet strong enough to return home. Usually, you will receive more therapy in a rehab hospital than you would receive in a skilled nursing facility. (You will also receive more therapy in a skilled nursing facility than in an assisted living facility.)
3. How many days of insurance coverage you will have at the rehab hospital?
Do not assume that because you have Medicare and supplemental insurance that all of your days of admission will be covered. And conversely, the rehab hospital may be reluctant to let you go before all of your days are used up. It is astounding, but sometimes family members have to argue to get a patient discharged before all of the days are used up.It is often a delicate balance to determine how much time in a rehab hospital is “enough.” If you leave the hospital before staff recommends it, you may have to sign documents acknowledging that you are signing out “AMA” or “against medical advice.” If you do leave “AMA,” you will have to do extra planning to return safely to your home.
4. How much therapy does my insurance cover? How many visits? How much per visit?
You cannot assume that all of your therapy charges will be coveredask this before you get transferred there. See if your insurance requires therapy preapproval, and if so, how many visits will be covered. In some cases, you may end up with a bill for the unpaid therapy services. You will want to confirm whether you will be required to pay any residual balance after your insurance(s) have paid.
5. Which rehab hospital is being recommended?
You may have a choice on which rehab hospital to choose, depending on where you live. There could be a rehab hospital that specializes in brain injuries, for example. If you had head trauma, it might make more sense to reside there and get the utmost benefit available, and maybe have a shorter stay than one at a rehab hospital that does not have the same experience and expertise. If you have a choice to make about which rehab hospital to choose, you will want to gather some information about each. You will want to get the name, address, phone number, and name of the contact person for each facility. See if the facility specializes in treating people with your particular diagnosis. You will need to know what therapy services are being recommended for you, and if they are available at each facility.
6. What should I bring?
The rehab hospital will provide the medical equipment and other adaptive devices to aid in your recovery. There are other things you can bring to make your stay more comfortable. If you brought clothing and toiletries with you to the acute care hospital, you may want to bring them to the rehab hospital. Things you might consider bringing include the following: robe, socks, sweater, scarf, headband, slippers, pillow, blanket, sleep mask, ear plugs, earphones, razor, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, books, magazines, DVDs, DVD player, radio, and basic toiletries. Bring several sets of loose and comfortable clothes, and don’t forget sturdy walking shoes. You have to get dressed every day, and the staff will not allow you to stay in your robe and slippers.
7. Should I bring my prescription medicines?
It is also a good idea to have a 2- to 3-day supply of your medications to bring with you to the rehab hospital. In this way, in case there is a mix-up of some kind, you are assured that you will not miss any doses of medicine.
In conclusion, a stay at a rehab hospital will give you the chance to recover from your illness to the greatest extent possible. The therapy program is designed to meet your specialized needs so that you can get as strong as possible to return to your home.
What Makes Hotel Reservation Software Important For Hospitality Industry?
Friday, May 14th, 2010Introduction to Hotel Reservation Software Most of the visitors to the hotels prefer to make reservation for rooms, so as to avoid any type of inconvenience. Reservation on spot and through telephone has been outdated by the hotel reservation software solutions. The automated systems for hotel reservation provide convenience to the guests and can help the business owners to grow tremendously. The following discussion talks about the benefits of hotel reservation systems that make them powerful entities in the hospitality industry.
Instant Services to Guests Hotel reservation is an important part for one’s trip and achieving success in that can bring peace of mind to the customers. Hotel reservation systems can help one to make booking instantly, without putting them on hold for long. Moreover, guests are mad familiar with various services offered by the hotel through the reservation software.
Better Management Manual reservation often leads to chaos that can let the hotel management deviate from its path. With hotel reservation software, the hotel owner can have better customer management to ensure good services to the customers.
Promotional factor Hotel reservation software systems have another advantageous factor associated with them. Promotion of hotel business can be done through these solutions, as hotel website can also be integrated with the online reservation software. This increases the visibility of the hotel across boundaries, providing better chances of being accessed by national and international customers.
Reduction in Time and Cost Like any other industry, hospitality industry is also governed by two important factors, including time and cost. With hotel reservation solutions, one can experience overall reduction in time and cost spent on the working of the business. Hence efficiency and profit margins can be expected to grow by adopting these solutions.
Direct Sale Another big advantage of using hotel reservation software is that one can put an end to the involvement of third party between the service providers and the customers. With this, not only the business owner makes direct sale and obtain direct payment from the guests, but can also perform instant modification in rates and services.
Keeping the benefits of hotel reservation systems in mind, one can easily consider them as great assets for the hospitality industry.
How To Improve Your Medical Billing Collections Now Using These Six Important Steps
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Medical billing collections is increasing in usage, as many physician practices, medical clinics and hospitals face ever-growing past due debts from slow pay patient delinquencies and backed up insurance claims. With nearly 47 million Americans not having any private health coverage, a sluggish economy caused by a recession, as well as increasing unemployment, spells diminishing positive cash flow for medical practitioners.Given that prognosis, there are a number of things you can implement to increase your internal medical billing collections. By putting these six tactics into place, you can greatly improve your financial bottom line.1. Be sure you have a clear payment procedure, placed visibly at the front of your office. New patients need to understand clearly what, if any, payment is expected upfront, in regards to co-pays, etc. This should be understood BEFORE rendering service.2. Its vitally important that you collect ample and accurate patient information during the first visit to the doctor’s office. Get the patient’s full name, date of birth, address, work, home and cell phone numbers.Get their work information: address, phone number, their title or position, supervisor/manager, etc.Obviously, the more information you can collect, the better. While some may be reluctant to give their social security number, its still a good idea, especially if the account has to be turned over to a collection agency later.3. If the patient has health insurance, its important to verify at this point. While a doctor’s office can get quite hectic, this crucial step shouldn’t be overlooked. Verifying coverage will avoid headaches later on.4. In the initial patient application, you need to detail clearly the patients’ responsibility to pay. You might also want to consider adding language that in the event the account is turned over to an outside collection agency for lack of payment, the patient will be responsible for collection costs.Some states allow the business to recoup their costs for hiring an outside collections agency. This has to be clearly stated upfront in the original patient-signed application. (Be sure to consult with your attorney about this, as state laws vary)5. Allow patients to make payment arrangements for those going through financial difficulties. Because so many are either uninsured or under-insured, making reasonable payment arrangements via installments gives them more options, and greater peace of mind. It will also help generate cash flow to your practice.6. Know when to turn over delinquent accounts to a debt collection agency. As mentioned earlier, lack of health insurance, rising unemployment and a recession has placed greater financial strains on some patients ability to pay for health care.Most people intend to do the right thing and honoring their debt obligations. But the reality is that some others are less responsible. By using the before-mentioned procedures, consistently and early on, you can better identify the patients experiencing temporary financial problems from the “problem” delinquent accounts. Payment arrangements, and continued communications can better address those problems.However, the non-paying, more difficult clients need to be identified earlier as well. These are the accounts that should be outsourced to professional collection agencies, since they are better equipped to work with these types of accounts.Failing to do so only means wasting valuable time, money and labor dealing with these difficult clients. Time is an important factor, in that the longer your account goes unpaid, the lesser the likelihood of ever getting paid. By turning these over earlier, you greatly increase your chances of at least getting some money.As a general rule, after 90 days of non-payment, medical billing collections should be turned over to a collection agency.These procedures are simple, but they’re very important. And they can prove very effective in reducing your medical billing delinquencies. If you put these into consistent practice, you will greatly improve your medical billing collections.
12 Important Questions: Home From the Hospital
Monday, July 30th, 2007These are the 12 questions you will want to consider before you are released from the hospital back to your home. They cover issues of accessibility, mobility, and the continued level of care you will need to help speed your recovery.
1. Who decides when I can return home?
While you are in the hospital, the medical staff considers your needs and decides to which setting you will be released. If you are able to recover without a lot of extra assistance, you are returned to your home. In situations where more care is needed, a patient may be moved to a rehabilitation hospital (where intensive therapy is available) or to a skilled nursing facility (where some therapy is available).
2. How do I know if the rooms in my home will be accessible to me?
In planning for your release to your home, the home setting needs to be evaluated to determine which rooms are accessible and which are not. You may need for a therapist on staff to inspect your home for safety and suitability before you return there. For instance, the number of steps into the house is important to know and, also, if there is a second floor.
3. Will a wheelchair or a walker fit through the doors in my house?
If you are using a wheelchair, the width of the chair needs to be measured against the width of the doorways to the rooms that you will use. Measure each doorway. Even though you may have a single-story home, you may find that there are some rooms you cannot get to if the doorframes are not wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Even if your whole house is not accessible to you, you may be able to use the rooms that you need, such as the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom.
4. What changes in my house do I need to make to use a wheelchair or a walker?
Have someone do a walk-through to see if there are any obstructions that would impede getting from room to room. Check for throw rugs or mats that would slow down a wheelchair or a walker, or that might make it a little more difficult if you are still a bit unsteady on your feet. If you are using a wheelchair, allow enough room between the bed and the wall so that the chair can be next to the bed to assist you in getting in and out of bed.
5. Will my bathroom need to be modified?
If the bathroom is not wheelchair accessible, you may need help from someone in order for you to walk from the doorway to the toilet, or you may need to rent a commode chair and place it in another area of the house until you are steadier on your feet. It may be that the bathroom is accessible, but you need a raised toilet seat and grab bars next to the toilet so you can get off the toilet safely. You may need a chair for inside your bathtub or shower. Find out if you will be able to reach the bathroom and kitchen sinks in the house or if you will need assistance.
6. Will I need a hospital bed for use at home?
If your bedrooms are on the second floor, you may need to use a hospital bed on the first floor until such time that your mobility improves and you can handle the stairs. The hospital bed may be a more comfortable choice since its height can be adjusted for ease in getting in and out of the bed.
7. Will I be able to use my telephone and television?
You will need to be able to reach the telephone, so you may need a longer cord and a lower table for the telephone. The television needs to be in a location where you can watch it, so it may need to be moved and you may want to find an easy to use (larger numbers and buttons) remote control.
8. What kind of activities can I continue to do?
There are other issues having to do with mobility and accessibility that will depend on your particular lifestyle, so think of what a typical week or month would be like for you. Figure out who will be able to help you get to appointments, if necessary. If you attend religious services and you need help getting there, find a friend who will pick you up and bring you back.
9. What if I need extra help with bathing, for instance?
Depending on your needs, you may have someone stay with you to provide help. A home health care aide may be available through home health services to come in and help with bathing, grooming, and dressing. Find out the extent of your insurance coverage for these services. You may also receive physical, occupational and/or speech therapy through the home health agency.
10. Can I get someone to help me prepare meals?
In addition, you may need help with chores, meal preparation, and shopping. You will need to find out who can help you with these tasks. In some areas, your county may have in-home help available if you meet the income requirements. The discharge planner at your hospital will know about resources available in your local community. Also, you may be eligible for Meals-on-Wheels for a period of time: confirm how many meals per day and for how many days you can receive this service. Please remember, Meals-on-Wheels is usually an out-of-pocket charge, meaning you pay for this service without reimbursement from your insurance company.
11. My finances are a mess. What can I do?
You will need to take care of your financial issues and money management. If you are not able to handle the mail, paying bills, and banking, find someone who can help you. It may be a family member, a friend, an attorney, or other fiduciary that you choose.
12. Will I be able to keep my pets at home?
If you have pets—dogs and cats are especially good for promoting one’s well-being and recovery—be sure to have details available regarding your veterinarian, boarding facility, and who will pet-sit in an emergency or as a favor. Your favorite pets by your side may be the best part of being home. Be especially careful navigating around your house if you are using a wheelchair or walker and your pets tends to get underfoot—this could cause an injury to you or to your beloved pets. Also, you need to store the pet food where you can reach it if your mobility is impaired.
Remember, planning ahead will made your recovery go more smoothly and you will experience less frustration if you have planned for your particular needs and restrictions. Your home may not be fully accessible to you right away, but with modifications and planning, you may have the comfort you need to help you feel much better.
