Introduction
According to the interviewee, Corona Regional Hospital was established in 1933 to provide health services to community members. Since then, the hospital has grown to meet many of the community needs by providing healthcare services. It has enough qualified doctors and nurses who give medical assistances to both inpatient and outpatients visiting the hospital.
Besides the regular and full time employees, the hospital also has volunteers. The volunteer opportunities are divided into Hospice, adult and student. The hospital center has a 24 hour services including emergency room, oncology, services for women, pediatrics, maternity and surgery. Nonetheless, this is a report of an interview carried out in the hospital.
Corona Regional Hospital interview report
An interview was organized with an official representative of Corona Regional Hospital to find more about the services the hospital offers to both inpatients and outpatients seeking health services. The mission of the hospital center is to serve the communities so as to be the healthcare partner of choice for patients, physicians and staff members.
The interviewee was asked to give information on the category and numeric size of clientele the Corona Regional Hospital center serves within a period of one year. The interviewee stated that Corona Regional Hospital center offers health services to newborns and also to those seeking geriatric services.
Besides, Corona Regional Hospital receives approximately 11500 inpatients every year. Moreover, it also receives about 3600 patients seeking services at the Ambulatory Surgery Center in a year. These are surgeries done in situations where admission in a hospital is not always necessary. Again, within one year, the hospital receives approximately 42000 patients in its emergency rooms.
The interview also sought to know what kinds of services are provided in the Corona Regional Hospital’s facilities. The response from the interviewee was that the hospital provides a range of health services. Some of the services mentioned included acute inpatient. Acute inpatient is an individual whose medical condition may necessitate that he or she stays in the hospital while still undergoing medication and or treatment.
According to the interviewee, Corona Regional Hospital also provides obstetrics and gynecology services (Azziz 42-54). Obstetrics is a specialty of medicine that is primarily concerned with taking care of reproductive tracks of all women and their children; while gynecology is a medical field primarily concerned with the female reproductive system (Azziz 42-54).
The scope of this field of medicine is limited to ovaries, uterus and vagina. However, it is highly possible for a doctor to be both a gynecologist and obstetrician at the same time. According to the interviewee, Corona Regional Hospital has some doctors who are both gynecologists and obstetricians.
Moreover, the hospital’s scope of services also encompasses Intensive Care Units where patients with life threatening health conditions are given sophisticated support coupled with invasive monitoring, Progressive Care Units where patients whose health conditions are serious but do not require the services of Intensive Care Units, surgery, inpatient psychological services, outpatient psychological services and Emergency Rooms.
The hospital also provide services such as sleep Lab, Acute Rehabilitation services, Newborns, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Skilled Nursing Facility, Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy and Maternal Child Outpatient Services.
The respondent was also asked to comment on reimbursement and sources of funding for Corona Regional Hospital. Regarding the source of funding for the hospital, the interviewee stated that the hospital gets its funding from the patients who pay for health services provided.
The hospital gets its revenues through cash payments by the patients who visit the hospital center and also via online through the use of Visa, Master Cards, Amex and Discover cards. The interviewee emphasized that these are the major sources of funding for the hospital.
On the issue of reimbursements, the interviewee revealed that the hospital has been a beneficiary of reimbursements from the government. The government pays for medical services sought by patients who have Medicare plans. However, the interviewee clarified that Medicare reimbursement does not cater for conditions arising from patients’ long stay in the hospital’s facilities. For instance, he mentioned bedsores.
This has limited the amount it gets from reimbursements given that some patients suffer from conditions that may demand they stay a little bit long as inpatients. The interviewee could not provide significant information on any third party reimbursement covering the services provided by the hospitals. Nevertheless, he alluded to the fact that he could remember patients had used third party insurance companies to meet their medical costs.
Asked on the types of regulations and accreditations that affect the hospital, the interviewee mentioned such accreditations as CMS, Joint Commission, ISQua and NCQA. The interviewee explained that these accreditations have enabled the hospital to attract and retain loyalty of many customers who seek health services. According to the interviewee, the hospital also has other accreditations from Title 22, California Department of Health and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The health industry within the United States is regulated by certain policies which all healthcare providers must comply with. In relation to this, the interviewee said that Corona Regional Hospital follows both national and international standards and regulations on healthcare services.
The interviewee stated that the hospital fully complies with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The hospital is also compliant with Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act and Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization.
The interview sought to find out about the hospital’s medical record system. The response from the interviewee indicated numbering and filing systems as the most dominant parts of the recording system used by the hospital. In the numbering system, Terminal Digit and Encounter Number models are used. The filing system entails Terminal and Encounter being filed electronically in the Electronic Health Record.
In relation to physician documentation completion requirements, the interview found out that the hospital uses Title 22; this requires that all deficiencies are signed, dated and timed within 14 days after discharge. The hospital also complies with the requirement that the facility retain a delinquency rate that is less than 50% according to the provisions of California Department of Public Health, CMS and Title 22.
With regards to retention policies, the interview found out that Corona Regional Hospital follows a policy of retaining all medical records of its patients for a period of seven years after the last date a patient is seen at the hospital’s facility. However, for mothers and babies, the records are retained for a period of nineteen years.
The interviewee stated that to release any patient information, the hospital complies with the federal and state’s Release of Information regulations, especially the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Through the interview, it was discovered that Corona Regional Hospital utilizes a number of software for its legal medical records. Some of these include 3M, OPUS, RMS, PAX, Nuance and Horizon. The interviewee clarified that the hospital is still at the hybrid stage in the process of its computerization to Electronic Health Record system.
Corona Regional Hospital’s privacy policies are in line with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is to ensure that patients’ medical information is not passed to unauthorized individuals, groups or institutions.
Conclusion
Corona Regional Hospital was established in 1933 to provide health care services to the local community members. In has since expanded to cover a wider region. The interview sought to find out about how the hospital operates, especially with regards to its facilities, policies and regulations within the healthcare industry.
Works Cited
Azziz, Ricardo. Obstetrics and gynecology: cases, questions, and answers. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006.