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Is the customer always right? I don't think so, and neither does The Chief Happiness Officer.I worked in a hospital where the corporate policy was to do Medical Screening Evaluations (MSE's) and to require pre-registration and pre-payment for those who we determined did not have an Emergency Medical Condition. When I started there, the ER director, a nurse administrator, explained that the corporations intent was to "train the community" in the proper utilization of the ER and to discourage inappropriate use.A number of hospitals don't do this, both because of a fear of liability and a fear of alienating "customers." I always thought you wanted to alienate over-utilizers and those for whom you wouldn't receive payment because the insurance company would deny payment for a non-emergent condition. Additionally, if you do a good job in your MSE, there should be minimal liability.Anyway, I told the nurse director that I would do this if it was policy but he should understand that there would be a significant number of complaints. He stated that the administration understood this.Well, what do you guess happened? I did the screens and got complaints. Some people were grateful when the registration person told them they would have to pay if their insurance company denied the charges, but the majority were unhappy about being told their conditions weren't emergencies. After all, isn't the customer always right? I can remember being taught that a condition was an emergency if the pat...
Source: DrTony - Category: Family Physicians Source Type: blogs