In what type of workqueue can you find patient encounters that are missing information

Workqueues are a cornerstone of Revenue Cycle management in Epic; they can provide powerful functionality to keep business operations running smoothly. However, it is not uncommon for organizations with Epic’s Foundation system to struggle at go-live and thereafter, when team members do not know how to properly and efficiently utilize workqueues.

At no fault of their own, Application Teams work in silos on their build in trying to meet “build bucket deadlines” and as a result, an opportunity to build based on your organizational workflows is lost. Building anything properly the first time always makes life easier, and building workqueues in Epic is no different.  It is much more difficult to correct and clean-up workqueue build once Epic is live than it is to take the initial effort to carefully design, build and test your workflows right at the start.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you start your build or look at optimizing workqueues:

Workqueues should mimic your workflows – Take your workflows and map out a life of an account across your workqueues. This will ensure the flow from workqueue to workqueue is intuitive and that stakeholders have a workflow to follow.

Use claims from your legacy system to reproduce accounts. Use a mix of very common (diagnostic imaging, etc.) and complex workflows (workers comp, case management, etc.). Ensure that every workflow is accounted for in your build.

Let’s take an example of a patient who comes in with an order for an imaging procedure. In this situation, you might implement the following workqueues:

• Schedule Order WQ- Capture the order for scheduling the test and then schedule it
• Patient WQ – Drive the future encounter to a pre-registration workqueue or capture any missed information for a current encounter
• Patient and Account WQ – After pre-registration you might have someone review the patient’s benefit information, create an estimate for a patient and determine a pre-payment
• Account, Claim Edits WQ – Coding and Billing would need to review any coding edits or claim edits that were triggered prior to the claim dropping
• Credit, Adjustment Review and Follow-up WQ – Once the claim is processed, billing may need to follow-up on credits, adjustments, or denials

Ensure that the criteria for why accounts hit a workqueue and why they fall off is clear and well understood – This must be well-defined for testing and support. Trainers can use this information as they develop training criteria.

Test your build– A reminder to test might sound unnecessary, but when rolling out a new build, testing is crucial. Make sure that you include negative results testing as well as positive results testing and ensure that your back-end and front-end edits are in-sync. Any revisions you have on claim edit or account workqueues should also be captured on pre-registration and registration workqueues since they are worked and owned by different sets of users. For example, if a claim requires a referring provider, and that piece of information is captured at registration, it should be reflected in both your patient workqueues as well as your claim edit workqueues.

Assign an owner to every workqueue – Accountability is key. IT will own system issues and Operations will own workflow issues.

Emphasize Workqueue training – Workqueue training is often offered at a very high level during an organization’s initial training, but is always revisited at Go-Live. Workqueues are the way you support and run Revenue Cycle in Epic and it is critical that the users understand the expectations of what is hitting a workqueue, why and how they correct the issues. Create a plan for end users outlining the different types of workqueues and how to work the errors.

When built well, Epic Workqueues can be powerful. Taking the time to ensure that you have each piece of your workflow (scheduling, registration, insurance verification, charging, claims, etc.) accounted for will ensure that you have a streamlined process for your end users to follow.

Click here for more information on Impact Advisors’ revenue cycle optimization services including additional downloadable thought leadership.

Which patient sidebar report provides a concise view with details?

From a patient's Appointment Desk, what is the fastest way to determine if they have an order in the system?

T/F: When the Confirm Now button on the Appointment Review window is selected for an appointment scheduled within 36 hours of the appointment time, the appointment will not appear on the Confirm Appointments Report and the patient will not receive a call from Televox.

T/F: A walk-in appointment combines scheduling and check-in.

T/F: The Cancel Appts activity could be used to both cancel or reschedule an appointment.

A Confirmation Messages Warning box will appear if no appointment reminder preferences are selected for a patient during check in.

All procedures must be associated with at least one __________________.

A predefined group of providers or resources the system automatically pulls from when scheduling certain visits.

When a user checks out an appointment, the status of that appointment changes to ___.

T/F: The Recommended Solution can only show you one recommended appointment at a time.

A patient sprained her right wrist yesterday while on the job. She comes in to see Dr. Rajiv on March 14, 2016. What should the claim information record be named?

Where can a user go to change the way a Hyperspace report, such as the DAR, appears?

T/F: The guarantor and subscriber can be two different people or entities when registering a dependent patient.

Jonathan would like an appointment sometime this morning with Dr. Babin. The time slots below appear on the provider's schedule. Which time slot can be scheduled into without having any special security?

Which of the following tasks is not a required step for check in?

Schedule follow up appointments

Time slots reserved for a specific visit type or type of patient are called:

If a patient does not have medical insurance, users should select the ______________ check box?

T/F: A pool is a geographical grouping of places of service that are close to one another.

A referral from a provider within your organization to a provider within your organization is considered an _______ referral.

T/F: You are able to schedule multiple visit types with different providers in the same entry process.

What options do users have for changing the time on the Recommended Solution form?

When viewing the Referral Action activity, what icon indicates that a referral has been assigned to an appointment?

T/F: When building a provider’s schedule, it is not required that every time slot(s) have a block. Time slots without blocks are scheduleable.

You access the Past tab on the Appointment Desk and see several appointments on it. How do you know which appointments are cancelled?

Canceled appointments will have the status of canceled (Can).

The _________ drives the copay amount to be collected at registration.

A patient's appointment is actually scheduled after you:

Click accept on the appointment review window.

As you are scheduling an appointment, you select a check box on the Make Appt form. The Schedule Scanner disappears and when you click Search, you are taken to the Recommended Solutions form rather than the provider's schedule. What check box did you select?

Once a user confirms an appointment from the Confirm Appointments Report, the patient will be:

Removed from the report automatically.

When must a user fill out the MSPQ?

For every appointment where Medicare could receive a claim for visit.

A referral that comes to your department from a provider outside of our organization is an____________ referral.

If a patient has a canceled appointment from last week, where can a user see that canceled appointment?

Past tab on patient's Appointment Desk.

A provider has recently decided to work Saturdays for the next month only. What activity do you need to use to make this change?

You are scheduling Michael for a Walk In visit. After you enter ____________, the provider's schedule appears.

You are on the Appointment Review window. You must specify a type of either "Inpatient" or "Outpatient" before you can make the appointment. Why must you specify a type?

You’re scheduling in a hospital outpatient department.

A user must clear the _______________ checkbox to view the provider's full schedule

Which of the following can be added to a patient's registration using the Patient Contacts form in Detailed View?

The permanent address is where the patient receives billing statements.

A ______________ is an insuring entity. A ___________ is a specific set of benefits.

The earliest date on which the recall appointment can be scheduled.

In order to terminate coverage, users must:

Enter a member 'effective to' date.

Today, your schegistrar mentions that she can only see two days of the provider's schedule. Beyond that, she sees "Unrlsd". Yesterday, she was able to see three months. What is preventing her from seeing past the second day?

T/F: The Edit Slot Activity can be used to add additional slots to the template.

T/F: All errors on the Checklist must be resolved during Check In before a patient's status can be changed to Arrived.

T/F: When you click the verification links, the level changes from green to red if you have filled out all the necessary information

On a patient's appointment desk, you see multiple future appointments with an "R" next to them. This indicates that the appointment is:

Part of a recurring series.

T/F: In the Edit Template activity, each template end date should be set to Indefinite.

T/F: If a provider is not entered for the second visit of a sequential appointment, the system will use the provider listed in the first visit type.

From which form can you see and change the coverages attached to the hospital account?

If a guarantor account is no longer effective, you need to _____________ the account.

Which of the following is not a resource used to verify coverage? a. RTE b. Telephone c. Passport d. MyChart

T/F: When scheduling a walk in appointment, the system automatically selects the first available time slot for the provider.

Filing order indicates which of the following:

The order in which the insurance is billed.

How are future appointments linked to orders identified on the appointment desk?

Purple box icon and clipboard icon.

When a coverage is terminated, it is:

What status does an appointment change to after the patient has been checked in?

This report displays a list of patients expected to be seen in a department today and can be configured to include multiple providers and resources.

Department Appointment Report.

T/F: Ochsner uses individual billing which creates a separate guarantor account for each patient.

What additional field needs to be completed when a patient has a Medicare Advantage Plan, such as Humana Gold Plus?

This button is used to access a patient's blue folders.

T/F: A new Guarantor Account must be created every time an insurance coverage is changed.

Which folder in the Registration Navigator indicates that all patient and encounter information has been verified?

What activity is accessed to enter any collected payment?

This Epic patient portal allows patients to schedule appointments, request refills, view medical records, and pay their bill.

This form shows a summary of all patient information along with hyperlinks to update demographic, guarantor, and coverage information.

___________________ is an internal, Epic to Epic, messaging system that permits messaging, task assignment, and task completion.

This button can be used to customize your DAR.

What is a sequential appointment?

Which activity button should you click from the appointment desk to schedule a basic appointment?

How does hyperspace alert you when an eligibility response has been received?