ASSIGNMENT 8
H01 Medical Office Management 1
Directions: Be sure to save an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English, spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) double-spaced pages; refer to the “Assignment Format” page located on the Course Home page for specific format requirements.
In Lessons 5 through 8, you learned about the administrative requirements of medical assistants. You learned about patient reception, appointment scheduling, office technology, correspondence, medical records, billing and collections, medical insurance, medical claims and coding, and office management duties. For this written assignment, the concepts learned from Lessons 5–8 will be applied. Please review the learning objectives for Lessons 5–8 prior to beginning work on this assignment.
Complete Parts A, B, C, and D for this assignment.
Part A: A pharmaceutical representative has just arrived at the office of Dr. Joseph Henderson, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon. The waiting room is swarming with patients waiting to see Dr. Henderson, because he was delayed with an unexpectedly complicated lumbar spinal fusion and laminectomy.
The representative is very insistent, almost belligerent, about seeing the physician immediately, even though she did not have an appointment to see him. In fact, the visit was totally unexpected, as the representative had just been in two weeks ago. Last time the representative was in, she gave Dr. Henderson a variety of readily usable and dispensable medications. She has more of the same today—injectable cortisone with Novocain, muscle relaxants, NSAIDs, and even some Tylenol with codeine. Usually, Dr. Henderson is quite receptive to receiving these samples, as they help ease the financial burden on his patients for whom he uses or to whom he dispenses these samples. The office is, in fact, running quite low on these particular medications because of Dr. Henderson’s heavy patient load.
Provide detailed answers for each of the following questions. Your response should be at least 150 words in length.
What is your response to the sales representative?
Should a sales representative ever take precedence over scheduled appointments?
Does the fact that Dr. Henderson is usually quite anxious to receive any and all samples for his patients enter in as a factor?
Does the diminished supply of these samples alter the situation?
Can the medical assistant ever accept delivery of any or all of these samples?
Part B: Dr. Jonas runs a private practice. He admits patients and makes rounds in two local hospitals. He uses one type of EHR software in his private office and two other packages in the two hospitals. Not only must Dr. Jonas learn three software systems, but he also may at times be unable to move patient information between those systems because of incompatibility. What might Dr. Jonas do to address these issues? Your response should be at least 100 words in length.
Part C: Lisa Medina, a certified coder, performs medical coding for a large multi-specialty clinic. You have just been hired as Lisa’s assistant. She has asked you to review the encounter forms for the day, on which physicians have checked off the diagnoses of each patient. You notice that Dr. Parker, an endocrinologist, has checked off the box for Diabetes unspecified for most of his patients without checking off any manifestations or complications. You think this is unusual because many diabetic patients do have complications.
Provide detailed answers for each of the following questions. Your respo
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction: This assignment focuses on the administrative requirements of medical assistants, including patient reception, appointment scheduling, office technology, correspondence, medical records, billing and collections, medical insurance, medical claims and coding, and office management duties. It includes three parts, each requiring different knowledge and skills related to medical office management.
Part A: As a medical assistant, the first priority should always be the scheduled appointments and patients waiting for the physician. The sales representative’s visit should not take precedence over scheduled appointments, and the medical assistant should inform the representative that the physician is currently busy with a complicated procedure and cannot be interrupted. The medical assistant can suggest rescheduling the visit or leaving the samples for the physician to review later. The fact that Dr. Henderson usually accepts such samples should not compromise the patients’ care and scheduled appointments. However, if the supply of these samples is limited and the physician relies on them to ease the financial burden on his patients, the medical assistant can accept the delivery of these samples, document them appropriately, and inform the physician of the delivery when available.
Part B: Dr. Jonas faces a challenging situation dealing with three different EHR software systems, which may cause incompatibility issues and negatively impact patient care and management. To address these problems, Dr. Jonas can consider several options, such as undergoing additional training on the different software systems, hiring an IT specialist to assist with data transfer and compatibility issues, or choosing to use a single EHR system across all facilities and offices.
Part C: As a certified coder, Lisa Medina must ensure accurate medical coding for the health of patients and to avoid legal and financial risks. Therefore, the medical assistant should approach Dr. Parker and discuss the matter, expressing concerns about the frequent use of the “Diabetes unspecified” diagnosis without checking off any complications or manifestations. If the issue is due to lack of proper training, the medical assistant can offer to provide educational resources and assistance to help Dr. Parker improve his coding practices. If the problem persists, the medical assistant should report their suspicion of fraudulent coding to the coding compliance officer and/or the billing department.
