Cardiology Care Navigator

Nashville General Hospital•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Cardiology Care Navigator plays a crucial role in coordinating the patient journey within the cardiology department. This position ensures seamless transitions from referral through diagnostic testing and follow-up care, acting as a primary non-clinical point of contact for patients. The navigator is responsible for monitoring patients requiring various cardiovascular diagnostic procedures, coordinating appointments with radiology and cardiology, and ensuring all necessary documentation and insurance approvals are in place. They actively manage imaging work queues, waitlists, and provider schedules to optimize capacity and minimize delays. Additionally, the role involves proactive patient communication regarding appointments, preparation, and adherence to care plans, as well as collaborating with clinical staff to ensure comprehensive patient preparation. The navigator also contributes to program growth by increasing imaging completion rates, reducing delays and no-shows, and supporting outreach initiatives. Performance monitoring and reporting to clinic leadership are key aspects, along with participation in quality improvement efforts and maintaining accurate documentation in the electronic medical record.

Requirements

Excellent organizational and communication skills.
Strong customer service and interpersonal skills.
Knowledge of medical terminology, referral management, and insurance authorization processes.
Ability to manage multiple priorities independently.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office and EMR systems.

Nice To Haves

Associate's degree preferred.
Three years of healthcare experience preferred.
Experience in cardiology, ambulatory operations, patient access, scheduling, referral coordination, or care coordination preferred.
Experience with Cerner or comparable electronic medical record preferred.

Responsibilities

Coordinate the patient journey from referral through completion of diagnostic testing and follow-up care.
Ensure patients are scheduled for recommended imaging and follow-up appointments before leaving the clinic whenever possible.
Serve as the primary point of contact for non-clinical patient coordination.
Monitor patients requiring cardiac CT, cardiac MRI, stress echocardiograms, PET, SPECT, and other cardiovascular diagnostic procedures.
Track patients throughout the imaging process to ensure completion.
Review imaging work queues daily.
Coordinate imaging appointments with Radiology and Cardiology.
Ensure imaging orders contain all required documentation.
Coordinate with authorization staff to ensure insurance approvals are completed.
Escalate scheduling or authorization delays.
Coordinate rescheduling of cancelled or missed imaging appointments.
Maintain tracking lists for outstanding imaging studies.
Maintain and actively manage imaging waitlists to maximize imaging capacity.
Review daily provider schedules to identify patients needing imaging or follow-up before leaving clinic.
Coordinate same-day scheduling opportunities to fill cancellations.
Monitor imaging scheduling turnaround times.
Schedule provider-recommended follow-up appointments.
Monitor follow-up work queues to ensure patients are not lost to follow-up.
Contact patients who miss appointments, cancel appointments, have incomplete imaging, require repeat testing, or need ED/hospital follow-up.
Track outstanding imaging orders and coordinate completion.
Monitor referral leakage and coordinate appropriate follow-up.
Coordinate surveillance and repeat imaging based on provider recommendations.
Contact patients regarding appointments, preparation requirements, scheduling, and follow-up.
Reinforce procedure instructions provided by nursing staff.
Answer non-clinical questions and route clinical concerns appropriately.
Encourage adherence to care plans and scheduled testing.
Collaborate with physicians and nursing staff to ensure patients receive pre-procedure instructions, medication instructions, laboratory requirements, and preparation materials.
Notify nursing staff of patients requiring clinical outreach or education.
Manage referral, imaging, recall, ED follow-up, hospital discharge, missed appointment, incidental finding, surveillance imaging, and waitlist work queues.
Ensure timely patient outreach and appointment completion.
Increase completion rates for advanced cardiac imaging.
Reduce delays from provider order to completed imaging.
Reduce no-show and cancellation rates.
Maximize imaging utilization through proactive scheduling.
Monitor referral conversion and imaging volumes.
Support outreach to referring providers and new cardiovascular service initiatives.
Support population health and surveillance imaging programs.
Maintain dashboards and tracking tools for outstanding imaging orders, referrals, follow-up appointments, and work queues.
Provide weekly and monthly reports to clinic leadership and providers on outstanding tasks, turnaround times, completion rates, no-shows, referral conversion, waitlist utilization, and operational barriers.
Present findings during operational, provider, and quality meetings.
Recommend workflow improvements based on trends and performance data.
Document all patient outreach and coordination activities in the electronic medical record.
Maintain tracking spreadsheets, dashboards, and operational reports.
Participate in quality improvement initiatives, workflow redesign, and departmental meetings.
Participate in departmental meetings and special projects.
Cross-train to support ambulatory cardiology operations as needed.
Perform other duties as assigned.