Central Access Specialist, 9a-5p, Full-Time

Erlanger Health System • Chattanooga, TN

4h • Onsite

About The Position

The Central Access Specialist is an entry level position responsible for scheduling, securing patient demographic and insurance information, verifying insurance eligibility and benefits, and ensuring pre-certification is obtained and/or validated. This role involves computing, communicating, and obtaining patient collections, and initiating the financial clearance process, with an emphasis on scheduling patients greater than 3 to 5 days prior to the scheduled service date. Additionally, the specialist completes insurance verification/pre-registration and financial clearance for special admissions. The position manages heavy call and schedule volumes, notifies patients of their financial obligation, and collects co-pays, deductibles, deposits, and other identified out-of-pocket liabilities or deposits to meet pre-collections goals. This also includes reviewing past account balances, notifying patients of additional financial responsibility, and attempting collection of these balances. The specialist reviews accounts with inadequate financial coverage to coordinate with the Central Access Financial Advocate. Professionalism, courteous actions, confidentiality, excellent oral and written communication skills, and the ability to provide interactive communications appropriate to the patient's age are essential. The role requires appropriate interaction with third-party payers and other departments, the ability to relate well to people of a broad socio-economic mix, strong organizational skills, multitasking ability, work in a fast-paced environment, manage a multi-line phone system, and a commitment to teamwork. The ability to work closely in a clinical setting involving some stressful situations is also required.

Requirements

• High School Diploma or equivalent
• Demonstrated ability to read, write, arithmetic, multiplication/division including fractions and decimals
• Strong computer skills
• Excellent customer service skills
• Interpersonal communication and telephone etiquette
• Ability to multitask and manage high volumes
• Ability to work closely in a clinical setting involving some stressful situations

Nice To Haves

• Graduate of Medical Secretary Program
• Knowledge of basic registration and third-party payer
• Work experience in a physician front office operations or insurance/healthcare call center
• Medical terminology
• Basic knowledge base of CPT and ICD-9 codes
• Insurance coding and billing knowledge
• Certified Healthcare Access Associate from NAHAM

Responsibilities

• Answering incoming phone calls and scheduling outpatient appointments.
• Pre-register scheduled patients by gathering all patient demographic and financial information.
• Verify insurance eligibility and benefits for scheduled outpatient and inpatient patients.
• Validate and initiate pre-certification.
• Compute patient liability.
• Communicate and initiate time of service collections.
• Review prior bad debts and request payment of outstanding prior bad debt.
• Alert Financial Advocates of accounts with financial clearance issues. Document patient liability and financial clearance status to ensure timely processing at the point of service.
• Complete pre-registration, insurance verification and financial clearance for special admission and transfer patients.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: High school or GED
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees