Fomer Registration Rep converts from the dark (financial) side

Published Mar 22, 2005

5 Posts

:balloons: former ed registration rep sees the light! :balloons:

registration representative, excellent at collecting copays and checking insurance eligiblity and focusing on patients bills, after working nearby emergency department staff for 2 years, converts to patient care! :balloons: :rotfl:

]"it amazes me the impact the ed folks have on patients and families lives. people come in here sick, discouraged, frightened and/or ignorant. most leave with a plan for their healing, free of pain, encouraged, comforted, nurtured and educated. how is that not a miracle? these folks on the clinical side of things have a tremendous opportunity to make a positive difference in this community...and they take that opportunity and use it to everyone's benefit. how could i not want to be a part of that?"

"day by day, as a collection rep,er- uh, i mean, registration rep, i would see patients come through the ed, i'd get their demographics and insurance information, check eligibility and upon discharge, collect their copays. i saw such a change in people. by the time they were discharged, they were in much less pain and were much more likely to smile, at least until i asked for their er co-pay. :angryfire

"considering how my heart's desire to is to be a blessing to others, i wanted to find out more. i started to watch the ed staff closely and talking to my co-workers in registration about those strange ed folks.

my co-workers pointed out that some of them were just a little crazy, others were very arrogant, and many were consistently rude to us. while i had to agree with most of what they said, i knew that couldn't be the end of the story. personally, i had heard more than one angry demand for stickers on a patient and numerous complaints about waiting for just a minute or two. in spite of that, they seemed like miracle workers to me.

ok ok, miracle workers of god don't go around stomping into the registration area, slamming copy paper down, grumbling something unintelligible and leave in a huff. they don't stand within inches of your face yelling about the safety of nurses because someone made a simple mistake of not checking "yes" to the mrsa question. besides, if the hospital system thought the mrsa thing was so important, why didn't they at least tell us what it is? we don't even know what it stands for! in training, they took three days explaining they correct procedure of asking for the money, but only 3 mintues on checking the mrsa box, so how important could it be??? i was hired away from a medical insurance company to help get claims paid. how am i supposed to know about clinical stuff? ooppss :offtopic:

anyway, arrogant, yeah, a small percentage. rude ok, maybe half some of the time, again only a very small percentage are consistently. a little crazy? yes... but so are most people. i needed to learn more.

when the opportunity to do bedside registration became available, i jumped at it. now i could be in the ed, instead of the registration office, full time. what better way to observe these beautiful perplexing creatures, but in their natural habitat?

while doing bedside i learned those folks are people. loving, caring, laughing, crying, busy, masters of multi-tasking people. they deal with blood, guts and all sorts of body fluids from all segments of society. they help people who scream at them, spit on them and throw things at them (sounds like my former marriage). they improve and sometimes save entire lives and families in hours. they effect decades and perhaps generations in their patients' los. they touch people at their most vulnerable, needy times. some patients come back to say thank you but not many, so that can't be why they do it. they put patients, families and their lives back together.

everyday.

how could i not want to be part of that?" :melody: :balloons: :cheers: :melody: :balloons: :cheers: ------------------------------------------------------------------

the former ed registration rep, wanting only to be known as resao, has begun her conversion by applying to nursing school, taking a cut in salalry to become an ed tech. she considers the ed tech position an apprenticeship to an ed rn position upon graduation and liscensure. she is working much harder for less money and loving it. she was recently overheard saying, "this is the only job i know of that you can be exhausted and exhiliarated at the same time!"

also, she encourages kindness and education with registration people, as much of their seeming unexplainable behavior is because their focus is different or because they have not been educated properly by the system. you can help them help you by explaining why you need or want something done a certain way. even registration people need educating...and who better to do it than nurses, who educate people all day? we are all on the same team. we just have different positions