Coordinator Patient Access

NeighborHealth•Boston, MA

3d•$20 - $27•Onsite

About The Position

NeighborHealth, formerly East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, is a large community health center serving the greater Boston area with a commitment to patient and community health. Every role is vital to advancing medicine and delivering the best care experience. This position performs a variety of clerical and reception activities supporting the Pediatric department, reporting to the Operations Manager. The role involves patient registration, scheduling, answering telephones, and providing exceptional customer service to maximize health center revenues and facilitate efficient patient flow. The Coordinator Patient Access (PAC) will manage a high volume of telephone calls, interact with patients and staff courteously, and practice the A.C.E. model of customer service. They will obtain and understand the registration process, handle outside referrals, and manage co-payments. Accurate verification and updating of patient demographic, insurance, and account information in EPIC is crucial. The PAC will also create new patient charts, notify clinical staff of patients needing immediate attention, and process external appointments and referrals. They will collect and enter co-payments, refer uninsured patients to the Enrollment Department, and attempt to outreach patients with insurance changes. The role includes appointment scheduling/check-out, managing the wait list, and utilizing reports to follow up on appointments. External appointment scheduling involves verifying insurance and processing orders through EPIC. The PAC will answer phones professionally, screen and redirect calls, manage telephone volume, compose messages, and review emails. They will also assist with forms and paperwork, adhere to department policies, and promote teamwork. Other duties include complying with Standards of Conduct, safeguarding patient information, and upholding safety policies.

Requirements

High school or GED
Minimum of one year of experience in a medical setting or customer service role.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook).
Experience with Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems, preferably EPIC.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Strong organizational and time management abilities.
Ability to multitask and work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
Attention to detail and accuracy in data entry.
Knowledge of medical terminology and insurance verification processes.
Ability to handle confidential information with discretion.
Bilingual in Spanish and English is a plus.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual in Spanish and English.

Responsibilities

Perform all patient registration-related activities, scheduling of appointments, external appointments and answering of telephones.
Deliver exceptional customer service and accurately and comprehensively collect, verify, and data entry of demographic, insurance, and account information.
Maximize health center revenues through accurate comprehensive demographic, and account information and verified insurance coverage while facilitating efficient patient flow within the Pediatric Department.
Efficiently and professionally manage the telephone service, both incoming and outgoing calls an average of 400 calls per day for the department.
Promote excellent customer service skills to ensure quality services for both internal and external customers of the Department.
Interacts with patients and other staff members with courtesy, concern, respect, and sensitivity.
Understands and practices the A.C.E. model by consistently demonstrating superior customer services to all internal and external customers.
Obtains and understands the registration process, calls for outside referrals, and is able to do all assigned functions including co-payments.
Identifies and accurately verifies patient demographics, insurance, and account information at the time of the patient’s visit.
Updates patient demographic, insurance and account information.
Daily completion of insurance pre-verification process of scheduled patients according to department policies and procedures for role currently working in.
Edits patient demographic, insurance, and account information.
Consistently pays close attention to detail to be sure EPIC reflects the most accurate and up to date information and is able to recognize discrepancies or other issues needing to be addressed.
Enters clear and accurate notes into EPIC based on outcome of the pre-verification for each patient.
Facilitates efficient patient flow.
Demonstrates ability to register patients at a quick pace to avoid long lines forming at the front desk without comprising the quality or accuracy of the Information entered in EPIC.
Create new patient charts, print face sheet and assign chart location.
Observe all patients who present for registration and notify the clinical staff of anyone that may need immediate attention.
Call 911 and/or ambulance transport per clinical staff.
Calling other facilities, obtaining referral authorization numbers, and entering all information into Epic to generate a referral for all non- health center patients who present to Pedi sick visit clinic.
Collects, tracks, and data enters all Privacy notices, signatures of AOB/ROI and other notices.
Collects, tracks, and data enters all co-payments and other payments in the form of cash, checks, and credit card transactions following cash collection policy and procedures and promptly reporting any related issues.
Consistently deposits cash collections at the end of each shift; keeps cash secured and maintains appropriate petty cash on hand at all times.
Actively refers uninsured/underinsured patients to the Enrollment Department to schedule appointments for patients to see an Enrollment Advisor.
Consistently attempts to outreach all “non-health center” patients due to insurance changes prior to their scheduled appointment in order to facilitate the patient’s transfer back to a plan accepted at NeighborHealth or to cancel the appointment.
If no contact is made effective documentation is made in EPIC to alert the receptionist checking in the patient.
Facilitates efficient patient flow in the following manners; performing the pre-verification process and updating EPIC with correct information prior to the patient presenting for their appointment, handling patients who require phone calls to be made to their insurance company at their window.
Act as member services for new patients, pre-registration, assigning PCP’s and schedule NR appointments; pre-registers and schedules lactation appointments for Pediatrics and Family Med. newborns; schedules Globe Santa appointments for Pediatric and family Med patients.
Perform the check-out process for patients.
Checks out patients in the computer prior to the end of each day and enters requested follow up and/or wait list appointments upon check out.
Prints additional labels as needed.
Reviews the DAR for completeness making sure all appointments in arrival status are in a completed status on a daily basis for end of day processing.
Familiarize your self with the scheduling of Primary Care appointments.
Accurately schedules, reschedules and cancels appointments in EPIC system.
Ability to change appointments from one Pediatric department to another and reprint labels in EPIC.
Maintains “wait list “appointments.
Utilizes daily reports to identify pediatric patients who have not called to schedule their yearly RR’s or f/u appointments.
Utilizes “moved Appointment reports” to notify patients of an appointment change i.e. provider vacation, illness, or schedule change etc.
Verify Insurances prior to scheduling external appointments; with the knowledge that BMC Health Net patients can only be scheduled at Boston Medical Health Center for specialty appointments if BMC does not offer the requested services patients can be referred to CHMC only.
Process orders through the EPIC Order Entry System to schedule external specialty appointments for patients and forward supporting clinical documentation to outside facilities.
Forward the order to the Managed Care department for authorization.
Enter all external appointments in EPIC, notify patients via telephone or computer generated letter in a timely manner.
Answers phones in a courteous and professional manner, using the four part greeting.
Screens and redirects calls appropriately.
Manages telephone volume by monitoring queue light and logging into phone system.
Composes and types detailed and accurate messages using staff messaging system.
Manages automated appointment recall system (wait list appointments).
Reviews emails received on a daily basis.
Uses the computer to schedule, cancel, and confirm appointments; to request records, to pull up and print information, and to communicate by e-mail.
Reviews providers’ schedules in advance to correct any errors.
Distributes Faxes on a daily basis.
Assists with PE forms, letters and other clinical paperwork as directed by providers.
Understands organizational structure of the pediatric Department and adheres to department policies and procedures (i.e., dress code, attendance, cell phone use, food at desk, etc.).
Performs other duties as authorized (i.e. interpretation of demographic information etc.).
Makes optimal use of standby time.
Promotes a sense of “teamwork” and contributes to the overall success of the department by assisting colleagues whenever possible.
Work cooperatively and respectfully with other departments and staff at all levels of the organization.
Demonstrates self-direction, self-motivation, and independence.
Exercises excellent judgment, in knowing when and how to involve your supervisor, utilize all available resources before seeking assistance.
Reads, understands and complies with all Standards of Conduct, Joint Commission policies and all laws related to position responsibilities and Employment at NeighborHealth.
Upholds procedures and systems to safeguard the confidentiality of all patient and employee information.
Upholds safety policies, practices, and procedures including safety, fire safety, electrical safety, proper body mechanics and material handling, office/ergonomic safety and other employee safety measures.