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Chapter 10: Office Administration questions with complete solutions
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Chapter 10: Office Administration[Office Administration] - correct answer ✔✔A key aspect of your role as a medical assistant is supporting
the efficient and effective administration of the office practice. The administrative duties will vary by the
size and scope of your practice setting; however, you will likely be involved in patient scheduling,
managing appointments, management of medical records and reports, and assisting with office
equipment. In this chapter you will review the essential elements of these duties.
Although most providers have transitioned to electronic health records (EHRs) and the use of electronic
resources for scheduling appointments and completing billing processes, you should still be aware of the
terminology, processes, and best practices for using paper records. For that reason, this chapter includes
a discussion of both paper and electronic processes. - correct answer ✔✔
One of the most important administrative duties for a medical assistant is to make appointments and
maintain the practice appointment book. The person responsible for scheduling the appointments plays
a key role in making sure the office runs smoothly. Patients do not want to wait more than 15 to 20
minutes before being seen by the doctor, and the doctor wants a smooth flow of patients. Patients who
are very ill or have an emergency want to be seen promptly. - correct answer ✔✔[Scheduling] Making
Appointments
Patient satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the experience of making an appointment can determine
whether the patient will remain with the practice or find another physician. Your demeanor on the
telephone is very important. - correct answer ✔✔- Speak clearly and do not appear rushed; give your
total attention to the person on the other end of the telephone.
- Repeat information back to avoid errors.
- Always be friendly, courteous, and interested in what the caller has to say.
- Schedule the appropriate amount of time for the type of appointment you are making.
You will use a manual appointment book or a computer to schedule appointments. It is helpful to create
a list with the preferred time frames per type of appointment in your practice. - correct answer ✔✔- An
appointment book may have pages for a single day or week, and for an individual doctor or multiple
doctors. Appointments may be set up in 10-15 minute intervals. Initial appointments or those requiring
complete history/physical exam are generally longer, as are some medical procedures and office-based
procedures.
,- A computerized schedule shows the same information; the doctor has a screen for each day, which can
be printed. Corrections, additions, and deletions can be done easily. The daily printout can be used at
the end of the day to note cancellations and "no-shows" (those who do not show up) in the patient
record.
Some basic information must be obtained when you are scheduling an appointment - correct answer
✔✔- Patient's full name: request a correct spelling, and use date of birth to confirm the correct identity
for those with common names
- Contact telephone numbers: repeat back the numbers to ensure accuracy
- Purpose of the visit (e.g., routine visit, immunizations): secure the appropriate amount of time needed
for each type of visit
Appointment Book - correct answer ✔✔See page 340, figure 10.1 for visual representation
The practice appointment record is considered legal documentation. The office should have policies on
how to enter information to clearly show the status of patients, including no-shows and cancellations.
When documenting in a paper file, never use correction fluid or tape to blot out information. Instead,
draw a single line through the entry, and beside it, record notation such as "can" for canceled, or "NS"
for no-show. Include the date, time, and reason if known. This information should also be documented in
the patient's chart. - correct answer ✔✔[Legal Status of Appointment Record]
There are several different types of scheduling systems. The physician or the practice will choose which
system is best for their practice. Open hours, time-specified, wave, modified-wave, double-booking,
cluster, advance, and combination scheduling are the different methods used when setting up your
appointment record. - correct answer ✔✔[Appointment Systems]
In an open-hours scheduling system, patients arrive at their own convenience with the understanding
that they will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis, unless there is an emergency. A drawback to
open-hours scheduling is a patient may have a long wait time. Open scheduling is seen in public health
clinics and urgent care centers. This system increases the possibility of inefficient downtime for the
physician. - correct answer ✔✔Open-hours scheduling system
Time-specified scheduling is scheduling patients at regular, specified intervals. Minor medical problems
usually require 15-minute appointments. This type of scheduling leaves more time to schedule physical
exams or procedures that can require 30- to 60-minute appointments. Time-specific scheduling controls
the flow of the day and how the doctor's time is spent. - correct answer ✔✔Time-specified scheduling
, Wave scheduling works best in large medical facilities that have enough departments or personnel to
give service to several patients at one time. With wave scheduling, the medical assistant asks the
patients to all arrive at the top of the hour. This system is based on the experience that some patients
will arrive late for their appointment while others may need more time for an appointment than initially
expected. Patients are seen in the order of their actual arrival time. A disadvantage of wave scheduling is
that patients can become annoyed or angry if they realize that several patients have an appointment at
the same time. - correct answer ✔✔Wave scheduling
The wave can be modified in different ways. Patients can be scheduled in 15-minute increments,
regardless of appointment type. Another method of wave scheduling is to schedule four patients to
arrive at planned intervals during the first half hour, leaving the second half unscheduled. Appointments
that need more time should be scheduled at the beginning of the hour. Less time-consuming
appointments would be scheduled in 10- to 15-minute time slots. The use of this method allows time for
catching up. - correct answer ✔✔Wave Scheduling no.2
When two or more patients are scheduled for the same appointment, the scheduling is called double
booking. The double scheduling assumes that both patients will be seen in this time slot. If the visits are
short or there are multiple practitioners available, it can make sense to double book. If both patients
need the 10- to 15-minute time slot, then the office falls behind. If you work in a practice where two
patients can be seen at once, this method does work. Double booking also helps when a patient calls and
needs to be seen that day. As a medical assistant, you will work with the physician to prepare and treat
both patients in different rooms. - correct answer ✔✔
Clustering scheduling is grouping similar appointments together during the day or week. This method is
helpful when specialized equipment or services are available only at certain times. - correct answer
✔✔Cluster Scheduling
Specialists often book patients weeks or months in advance. This method is advance scheduling. The
physician usually leaves a few slots open every day to accommodate urgent appointments. Practices
often combine two or more scheduling styles, and more offices are using the computerized scheduling.
With this method, the computer can be programmed to lock out selected appointment slots so that
these times will be available for emergencies. Another advantage of computerized scheduling is that the
schedule can be accessed from all the computers in the practice. - correct answer ✔✔Advanced
Scheduling
It also is a great way to keep track of the patients who are late or miss appointments, and it can identify
length of appointment times. In addition to patient appointments, you may be asked to schedule
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