For one of the studies for this assignment, you conducted independent research into health care revenue cycles and billing processes. You will be incorporating this information into your assignment.

Imagine that you have just stepped into a new role as the office manager for a successful medical clinic. The clinic is a conglomeration of physicians offering specialized care. Each physician group tried to manage its own billing process. It quickly became clear that one billing office would be more efficient. You realize a lack of consistency has existed in the clinic and that you will need to update the billing policies and procedures immediately. You also recognize that people often resist change. One way to minimize this resistance is to provide credible evidence supporting the changes you plan to make.

You assignment is to prepare a proposal for the physicians about the billing policy and procedure changes you plan to make. To help ensure buy-in from the physicians, you will provide relevant evidence to support each change.

Instructions

Write a proposal for changes you would like to make to the billing policies and procedures for a physicians’ clinic. Include all of the following in your proposal:

• Explain how the proposed changes will benefit the patients, physicians, and the clinic.
• Develop a step-by-step process for the entire revenue cycle, from preverification of insurance to accounts receivable management.
• Recommend a method for determining a pricing structure.
  • Be sure to consider the factors that influence pricing.
• Explain the factors to be considered when negotiating insurance contracts.
  • Determine the major payer categories appropriate for this practice.
• Explain how the clinic will handle private pay and charity care.
  • The discussion in this unit will help you with writing this portion of your proposal.
• Recommend an installed or a web-based billing software system.
  • Do not recommend a specific software brand, just the type of software needed.

Note: To increase physician buy-in, remember to provide a minimum of three current scholarly and/or authoritative resources to support the changes you are recommending. These resources should be over and above the resources provided to you in this unit’s studies.

Submission Requirements

• Written communication: Be sure that your proposal is clear, logical, and succinct. It also needs to be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Length: 3–4 double-spaced content pages in Times New Roman, 12-point type.
• Title and reference pages: Include a title and a reference page. Include a minimum of three references to current scholarly and/or authoritative resources. These resources need to be over and above the resources identified for you in this unit’s studies. Current means no more than five years old.
• APA format: Ensure in-text citations and references adhere to APA format. For an APA refresher, consult the APA Style and Format page on Campus.
• Scoring guide: Review this assignment’s scoring guide so that you understand how your instructor is going to evaluate your work.

Note: Your instructor may use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.

Resources

• Billing Policies and Procedures Scoring Guide.
• APA Style and Format.
• Writing Feedback Tool.

What are the five modes of transportation?  What are the pros and cons of each?

Assignment Content

1. The purpose of this assignment is to learn how to create a flowchart and improve a process and summarize the results. You will create a process to improve flowcharts.

   Important Instructor’s Tip *** It strongly recommended that you choose a process where data is readily available for the metric you are analyzing. You will be building on this assignment in weeks 2 and 4, and the quality of your data will be very important. I also recommend that you review the requirements for the weeks 2 and 4 assignments before choosing your process. 

   Complete the Week 1 Process Improvement Flowchart Worksheet.

   Submit your assignment. 

   Resources

   • Microsoft® Word, PowerPoint®, Visio®, or Excel®
   • Center for Writing Excellence
   • Reference and Citation Generator
   • Grammar Assistance
   •  

In this assignment, you will submit your working Introduction and Literature Review for your Action Research Proposal.  You should include the following:

Introduction: This is where you will introduce your topic in a general sense and within the context of education. Why are you examining this? What is important to find out? Frame your ‘problem’ within the context of education and use research to back it up (I do not want personal anecdotes here). 

For example: If I was studying the impact of an emotional-intelligence curriculum on young children living in poverty, I would introduce my proposal by discussing the prevalence of young children in poverty (using real statistics that are cited) and the impact poverty has on a child’s education (also using cited research). Then I would discuss the importance of social-emotional learning at a young age and the positive impact it has on educational trajectory (using research). I might also bring in a short discussion of how students living in poverty might benefit immensely from a curriculum focused on social-emotional learning to assist in their understanding of the emotions they are experiencing from hardship and self-regulation of these emotions in the future. The ‘problem’ is that young students living in poverty are already at risk of educational failure due to their environmental circumstances and also need extra assistance understanding the emotions they are feeling due to the hardships surrounding them. Hence, using an emotional-intelligence curriculum could improve not only educational outcomes but emotional development and life in general for these young children. 

Literature review:  In this section, you will discuss articles that are relevant and meaningful to your problem, your purpose, your research design, and your methods. I would like at least 3 articles selected and discussed in this working section. For each of the articles provide a general overview, the research design, data collection and analysis, and their findings. You will also need to explain why this is relevant to your proposal. This is how you find out what has already been done, what has been successful or effective, and what has been ineffective. You build your own methods and design from the success and failures of other researchers. 

For example: I would want to select articles that examine the impact on social-emotional learning curriculum and techniques on the educational outcomes and home outcomes for students at risk. I would want to find articles that are similar to my topic, the age range I am examining, using similar methods, and with a similar design.

Research Question

How can I use the MarcoPolo learning tool to increase student engagement in my VPK class at Kiddie Academy as measured by an increase in the number of students completing assignments and participating in class discussions?