Patient Registration & Central Scheduling Study
This survey is intended to study the trends in the Acute Care Hospital marketplace toward using Pre-Registration and Outpatient Centralized Scheduling to address both revenue cycle and patient service improvements. We appreciate your time and effort to complete it. All information gathered is confidential. Results will only be displayed in aggregate form without any individual institution identified. You, of course, can compare your practices to the aggregate data. All participants will receive the survey results and a copy of an article reprinted from the HFM Magazine which we co-authored with a client titled “Centralized Scheduling an unanticipated revenue cycle improvement opportunity”.
Instructions: Use the Tab key to move between the questions/answer fields. The answer types include: Check boxes, drop down multiple choices and free text entries in which you can type your answer. Once you have completed the survey, Save it and email it back to us at ‘’.
Hospital Name:
Completed by:
1. Do you have a Revenue Cycle improvement effort underway? Yes No
A. If Yes, how long has it been in effect? Select a range (drop down box)
2. Do you Pre-Register outpatients now? Yes No
A. If Yes, what percentage of scheduled outpatients would you estimate are:
Ø Completely Pre-Registered %
3. Do you have a different registration process for Pre-Registered patients? Yes No
A. If yes, enter a description
4. On average, what would you estimate the time is (from arrival to departure) in the registration department? Minutes
A. Only if the registration time varies, enter the registration time for:
Ø Pre-Registered Patients Minutes
Ø Not Pre-Registered Patients Minutes
5. What do you estimate your initial denial rate (%) to be on outpatient claims? %
6. Does your hospital centralize outpatient scheduling? Yes No
A. If NO, are you planning to do so? Yes No
IF THE ANSWER IS NO, DO NOT COMPLETE THE REMAINING QUESTIONS!
IF Central Scheduling does not report to you, please ask the appropriate manager to complete the following.
IF Central Scheduling is not in place yet, answer the questions based upon what you know now.
Patient Registration & Central Scheduling Study: Revised 2/08 1 of 3
7. What year did or will Central Scheduling begin (or estimate the number of years in place)?
8. Check the Departments included or planned to be in Central Scheduling:
All (no need to check others) Radiology Cardiology Pre-Admission Testing
Rehab Neurology Oncology
GI Lab Respiratory Clinics
Describe Others
9. Of the Departments listed above, are there any sub-areas not scheduled by Central Scheduling?
List them
10. What is the FTE count for the Central Department?
Ø Supervisor/Lead
Ø Schedulers
Ø Pre-Registration Staff (only if different than schedulers)
Ø Others (Title & FTEs)
11. Do you use any resources outside the Department for central scheduling work? (Examples: If call volume is heavy or work is backlogged, Break/Lunch, absenteeism, vacations). Yes No
If YES, describe how many and when
12. Do you receive telephone system reports or information? Yes No
IF YES:
A. What frequency do you receive the reports? Daily Weekly Other
B. What is your typical call volume? Weekly or
Monthly (just enter one field)
C. For the following telephone indicators, select or fill-in an answer if you know it
Indicators / Tracked by you? / Typical Result? / Reported To?(Leave blank if not Reported)
% Calls answered / Y N / % / Admin Service Areas
% Abandoned Calls / Y N / % / Admin Service Areas
Average Answer Time / Y N / Min. / Admin Service Areas
13. Do you have an effort underway to reduce the telephone abandonment rate? Yes No
IF YES, what does the effort include?
Increasing staffing levels? Changing staff’s work schedules (start/end times, etc.)
Reducing the talk time? Modifying technology? Modifying the work process?
Other (describe):
14. Do you receive scheduling system reports or information? Yes No
IF YES:
A. What frequency do you receive the reports? Daily Weekly
B. What is your typical scheduled appointment volume? Weekly or
Monthly (just enter one field)
C. For the following scheduling indicators, select an answer
Indicators / Tracked by you? / Reported To?(Leave blank if not Reported)
% of capacity scheduled / Y N / Admin Service Areas
Average Wait Time for Appointments / Y N / Admin Service Areas
% of Cancellations / Y N / Admin Service Areas
% No Shows / Y N / Admin Service Areas
% Re-scheduled appointments / Y N / Admin Service Areas
15. List your top 3 issues regarding Central Scheduling.
1.
2.
3.
16. Would you be interested in any of the following?
A. Attending a conference/training session on Central Scheduling issues. Yes No
B. Having a presentation of these issues at your hospital for your management team. Yes No
C. Having a Telephone Data Analysis performed. Yes No
D. Having a Scheduling Data Analysis performed. Yes No
E. Receiving a newsletter/periodic e-mails pertaining to Centralized Scheduling. Yes No
17. Enter any comments or special notes:
Thank you for your time and effort to complete this survey. Please Save the file and email it back to or fax it to 215-393-7465.
Patient Registration & Central Scheduling Study: Revised 2/08 1 of 3