One of the providers I help uses Centricity and it too scans into the program. Each user has a small scanner attached to their screens.

Max, If you got at least 10 fakes, imagine how many an emergency phyisician gets on a daily basis, considering the law states that the emergency physician cannot even ask the patient if they carry insurance. Therefore the information that the emergency physician receives is 100 times worse than in a private practice.

I will say that, based on personal experience, much of the blame can be placed onto the hospital registrar. Many of them don't care about what information they receive and they have no clue about how it snowballs and affects, not just the hospital, but other providers that depend on this information. When I say personal experience, I took my mother to one of my emergency rooms. I gave the registrar my mother's AvMed Medicare card and my mother's driver's license. The registrar copied the cards and gave them back. Later my mother got a bill from the hospital. The statement said her insurance denied the claim saying she was not a member. When I did some research, I found that instead of entering AvMed, the registrar entered United Healthcare. To be honest, Helen Keller could have done a better job. It took 15 phone calls to get this straightened out because not only did my mom get bills from the hospital, she got them from the radiologist, the outside lab company, the cardiologist and from my billing company, all stating that United says she was not a member. AvMed then denied all of these claims due to timely filing because by the time all of these companies billed my mother, it was months later and AvMed has a 90 day filing limit. I ended up appealing to AvMed and eventually won and they paid. My letter to the hospital CEO went unanswered.

So, for you hospital registrars out there. We know you have a thankless job. But pass the word that what information you receive is also sent to others. I would also suggest that you take the time to verify the information you receive. I know you have the time. If I can spend 6 hours waiting in an emergency room, you can spend 20 minutes verifying the information I give you. You will be amazed at how much more revenue you can generate for your hospital and the providers that rely on the information you take from the patient. Last, try and get at least 3 phone numbers from the patient - home, work, and emergency. Spend 5 minutes calling one of them to make sure it is not a local burger king or disconnected.