HNS Policy
HNS Accessibility Standards
To help ensure timely and appropriate access to care, HNS has established accessibility standards as outlined below.
HNS continuously monitors for, and tracks, complaints relating to non-compliance to these standards.
HNS may conduct on-site surveys of HNS provider practices to assure compliance to these standards and will require the provider to take action to correct areas of non-compliance. Failure to comply with these standards and/or to correct deficiencies in a timely manner may result in termination from the network.
In-Office Waiting Time:
In general, patients should be seen by the network provider within 15 minutes of the time of their appointment.
Routine Appointments:
All network providers should be able to schedule patients for routine, non-urgent appointments within 14 days from the time the patient calls for the appointment.
Urgent Appointments:
During normal business hours, network providers must be able to schedule patients for urgent appointments within 24 hours of the time the patient calls for the appointment.
Missed Appointments:
There should be a procedure in place for following up on missed appointments.
Walk-In Patients:
There should be a procedure in place for handling emergency walk-ins.
Access to Practitioner:
Network providers should be available to members of HNS contracted payors 24 hours a day, seven days a week OR, if not available, providers must provide guidance regarding what to do in the event of an emergency if the office is closed. Instructions for how to obtain care if the provider is unavailable must be included on messages on the practice’s answering machine/service.
Answering Machine/Service:
Consistent with good professional practice, network providers must maintain voice mail messages, an answering machine or answering service to direct patients as to how they are to obtain care when the office is closed.
Voice mail and or answering machine messages must be used during all non-business hours and during all business hours if the phones will not be answered by a person.
Voice mail messages/answering machines must clearly state:
· The name of the practice.
· The hours the practice is open.
· How to obtain emergency care if the office is closed.
Below are two examples of appropriate voice mail messages for your practice:
Example 1
“Hello, you’ve reached ABC Chiropractic. Our office hours are from 8am to 12 pm and 2pm to 6pm Monday – Thursday. Our Friday office hours are 8am to 11am. If you need immediate assistance and our office is closed, please call (000)-000-0000 and the doctor will return your call promptly. Otherwise, please leave a message and we will contact you on the next business day. Thank you.”
Example 2
“Hello, you’ve reached ABC Chiropractic. Our office hours are from 8am to 12 pm and 2pm to 6pm Monday – Thursday. Our Friday office hours are 8am to 11am. If you need immediate assistance and our office is closed, please call 911. Otherwise, please leave a message and we will contact you on the next business day. Thank you.”
Office Hours:
Office hours should be clearly posted (and must be included on answering machine messages).
Access to Care for Patients with Limited English Proficiency:
HNS providers must provide reasonable access to care to patients with limited English proficiency. As a reminder, HNS provides free, in-office interpretative services in over 200 languages. Please review the Cultural Competency section of this website for information on how to register for this important service.