TERRY REILLY HEALTH SERVICES (TRHS) REVIEWED THE AUDIT EXCEPTION AND DETERMINED THAT IN THIS ONE INSTANCE, WE DID NOT PROPERLY APPLY THE SLIDING FEE SCALE TO THE PATIENT’S SERVICE WHERE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN APPLIED, AND THE BILLING TEAM IS CORRECTING THIS ACCOUNT TO ISSUE A REFUND FOR THE ADDITIONAL DISCOUNT. TRHS BELIEVES THE SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY NOTED IN THE SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS WAS ATTRIBUTABLE TO HUMAN ERROR EXACERBATED BY A MISTAKE IN COMMUNICATION BETWEEN TWO STAFF MEMBERS. TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES TRHS TRAINING MATERIALS HAVE BEEN REWRITTEN TO ENSURE STAFF UNDERSTAND HOW TO ENTER AND VERIFY THE DATA IN THE ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM (EPIC) AND FRONT DESK STAFF WHO ASSIST PATIENTS WITH THE COMPLETION OF THE SLIDING FEE DISCOUNT APPLICATION WERE RETRAINED TO ENSURE THAT THEY UNDERSTAND HOW TO INPUT DATA AND THE IMPORTANCE OF DATA ACCURACY. IN ADDITION, WE ARE CREATING A REPORT GENERATED FROM THE EPIC SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY CHANGED PATIENT SLIDE DISCOUNT INFORMATION AND ASSIGNING PATIENT FINANCIAL SERVICES STAFF TO AUDIT, REVIEW, AND ADDRESS ANY ISSUES. WE ARE REVISING AN INTERNAL AUDIT PROCESS OF THE SLIDING FEE DISCOUNTS. THE FRONT OFFICE SUPERVISORS, OR DESIGNEES, HAVE STARTED AN AUDIT PROCESS TO VERIFY NEW SLIDING FEE DISCOUNT APPLICATIONS AND DATA ENTRY FOR COMPLETENESS AND ACCURACY. IN ADDITION, THE PATIENT FINANCIAL SERVICES (PFS) DEPARTMENT WILL AUDIT A STATISTICALLY MEANINGFUL NUMBER OF PATIENT ACCOUNTS WHERE A SLIDING FEE DISCOUNT WAS TAKEN TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF THE CALCULATION. TRHS TAKES THIS ISSUE VERY SERIOUSLY AND HAS ALREADY STARTED TO IMPLEMENT CORRECTIVE ACTIONS.