INTAKE COORDINATOR & COMMUNITY LIAISON

South Central Regional Medical Center•Laurel, MS

About The Position

The Intake Coordinator & Community Liaison coordinates administrative intake and admission activities for individuals seeking drug and alcohol detoxification. The role oversees insurance eligibility, precertification, authorization tracking, claims follow-up, and denial appeals in partnership with revenue cycle staff, while developing community referral relationships. It serves as a communication link among patients, families, payers, referral partners, and the interdisciplinary care team. This position does not provide clinical services or make independent clinical decisions. The coordinator serves as an initial administrative contact; collects demographic, referral, and insurance information; administers approved nonclinical intake questionnaires; coordinates clinical screenings and assessments by licensed staff; and manages administrative admission steps and referral documentation. The role verifies insurance coverage and authorization requirements, tracks precertifications and claims issues, and works with internal teams and payers to resolve administrative deficiencies and denials. The position also builds community referral relationships, conducts outreach, explains services and referral pathways accurately, and collaborates with clinical, administrative, finance, and leadership teams. All clinical judgments and medical-necessity determinations remain with authorized licensed professionals.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent required.
Strong organizational skills required.
Strong communication skills required.
Strong computer skills required.
Competencies include attention to detail, multitasking, customer service, insurance verification knowledge, confidentiality, and teamwork.
Ability to perform the essential functions of the position, with reasonable accommodations as applicable.

Nice To Haves

Experience with EHRs.
Experience with insurance verification.
Experience with healthcare administration.

Responsibilities

Serve as the first administrative contact for patients, families, referring facilities, and community partners seeking detoxification services.
Collect demographic, referral, and insurance information and administer approved nonclinical intake questionnaires.
Coordinate clinical screening and assessment by appropriately licensed staff and promptly route urgent safety or medical concerns to clinical personnel.
Coordinate administrative admission steps, referral documentation, bed-status communications, and follow-up on pending referrals.
Maintain accurate referral, admission, and outcome logs and protect confidential patient information.
Verify insurance eligibility, benefits, coverage limitations, network status, and payer authorization requirements.
Initiate and track precertifications and prior authorizations, documenting reference numbers, authorized dates, approved days, and payer deadlines.
Coordinate continued-stay authorization requests and obtain required clinical documentation from licensed staff.
Work with utilization review, case management, billing, and coding teams to monitor claims and address administrative deficiencies.
Coordinate correction, resubmission, and appeal of rejected, denied, delayed, or underpaid claims within payer deadlines.
Communicate with payers and internal departments, maintain follow-up notes, and escalate unresolved issues to designated leadership.
Identify recurring denial or authorization trends and recommend process improvements; follow payer contracts and hospital revenue-cycle policies.
Build and maintain relationships with hospitals, emergency departments, clinics, behavioral health professionals, law enforcement, recovery programs, and community organizations.
Explain program services, admission criteria, and referral pathways accurately without promising admission or insurance approval.
Conduct outreach visits, attend community meetings and educational events, and respond promptly to referral partner inquiries.
Maintain referral partner contact lists, document outreach activities, and identify opportunities to improve access to appropriate treatment.
Coordinate community-facing messaging with program leadership and comply with applicable referral, privacy, and marketing requirements.
Collaborate with nursing, providers, social services, case management, utilization review, registration, finance, and hospital leadership.
Communicate referral progress, administrative admission barriers, authorization deadlines, and claims concerns to responsible team members.
Participate in workflow improvement efforts and maintain reports on referral volume, admission conversion, authorizations, denials, and appeal status.
Support timely, respectful, patient-centered communication across internal and external teams.
Limit duties to approved nonclinical administrative screening and information collection; do not independently diagnose, conduct clinical assessments, determine medical necessity or level of care, develop treatment plans, or make clinical admission or discharge decisions.
Ensure insurance appeals involving clinical judgment are prepared or reviewed by appropriately qualified personnel.