Journal of Health Care and Research | ISSN: 2582-8967

As global perspectives for political, economic, and social problems, several important international issues have been ongoing with no resolution. Such battlefields affect people’s mental health worldwide. We need to understand the conflicts and differences of opinion and draw the appropriate lines strictly and practically. Familiarizing, recognizing, and evaluating these contents will lead to respecting their humanity toward each other. Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara was a supreme physician and established psychosomatic medicine in Japan. He has enlightened people with medical basic philosophy through the New Elderly Association (NEA) as Hinohara-ism, and emphasized holistic medicine and well-being. Such perspectives will contribute positive results for peace.

Background and Purpose: Lengthy wait times for diagnostic imaging often stem from unresolved financial clearance at check-in, undermining patient experience and operational efficiency. This quality improvement study evaluated a three-part intervention—securing authorization before arrival, proactively flagging accounts lacking authorization, and resolving flagged accounts within one hour of check-in—to reduce lobby delays and improve patient satisfaction.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 4,585 patient records from January 2016 through May 2022. Pre-intervention data (February 2016–December 2019) were compared with post-intervention data (January 2020–May 2022). Interventions included: (1) obtaining financial authorization before patients arrived for their appointments, (2) flagging any account lacking authorization so that front-desk staff could immediately engage the Financial Clearance Center (FCC), and (3) targeting same-day clearance within one hour for flagged accounts. Patient Service Coordinators at 11 front desks recorded lobby wait intervals. Statistical analyses and visualizations were conducted using Excel, Minitab, and Tableau; significance was assessed via two-sample t-tests.
Results: Despite a 56 percent rise in imaging volume during the post-intervention period, the average lobby wait time for financial clearance decreased from 61.1 ± 76.3 minutes to 44.1 ± 61.1 minutes (p < 0.0001). The percentage of patients cleared before arrival improved modestly, remaining above 99 percent even amid COVID-19–related FCC staffing shortages. Patients waiting less than 30 minutes for clearance rose from 48.1 percent pre-intervention to 58.2 percent post-intervention, while those waiting over one hour declined by 9.5 percentage points. The number of accounts flagged tripled—from an annual average of ~330 before 2020 to ~1,000 afterward—demonstrating consistent capture of unresolved authorizations without increasing long-wait cases.
Conclusion: Proactive coordination between front-desk staff and the FCC—focused on pre-arrival authorization, systematic flagging, and rapid same-day clearance—significantly reduced lobby wait times, even with increased patient volume and pandemic pressures. Institutions should continue investing in real-time financial clearance workflows to sustain and expand upon these improvements.

The authors have been involved in the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine (JSPM), and their recent activities include multifaceted approaches such as mindfulness, subjective happiness, well-being, socioemotional competencies (SEC), social media engagement (SME), education, and culture. Findings from several studies indicate that the four elements—mindfulness/meditation, happiness/well-being, SEC, and SME—are interrelated through one-way or mutual influences. As SME increases, happiness tends to decrease, suggesting that frequent SME has an inhibitory effect on happiness. Cultural orientation emerged as a moderator influencing the relationship between SEC and happiness. The link between culture and happiness varies depending on cultural alignment and the context-dependence of self-esteem.

Human dignity has been important and in discussion for long in mental healthcare and related regions. Historically, the human rights revolution has emerged from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The dignity can be explained from two separate sources of internal and external dignity. They are self-respect (how I see myself), and respect from other people (how others see me) with related government, country, and community, and so on. The medical team would propose applicable perspectives as human dignity, dignity for identity, dignity of excellence, and attributed dignity. Further crucial factors are valuable for respect, empathy, communication, and autonomy.