7. Dismissing a patient policy
I once had a belligerent patient — screaming, yelling and beating on
the counter. So I called her doctor and he said, "Tell her she is not
having her case here today. She is cancelled and tell her to call my
office." I informed her and sent her on her way — out of the facility.
Thank goodness we had a protocol for this, otherwise I wouldn't have
known how to discharge that patient from our facility.
There are a few common situations where you'd need to dismiss a
patient from care and you need a policy and procedure to address
each one. Some of those situations include patients who are not fol-
lowing the physician's prescribed plan of care, patients who fail to
respond to financial requests or to follow your facility's policies sur-
rounding patient responsibility. So it's best to include representatives
from admissions or the business side of your facility along with the
medical director. How are you going to dismiss the patient? Will you
write a letter or call them? How and when will you notify their physi-
cian of the decision?
If you live long enough, you're going to run into these situations.
You just need to be prepared. And that's what these requirements are
all about, being prepared so you can take care of your patients and
staff — no matter what happens.
OSM
7 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 8
Ms. Beydler (kathybeydler@bellsouth.net) is a managing partner at Strategic
Surgical Solutions and a surveyor for the Accreditation Association for
Ambulatory Health Care.