Manager Patient Relations / Patient Experience

University Hospital, Newark NJ•Newark, NJ

1d•$99,310 - $148,967•Onsite

About The Position

The Manager, Patient Relations/Patient Experience, is responsible to execute, participate and monitor Patient Experience strategies deployed across the organization to create an exceptional human experience for individuals, families, and visitors at University Hospital. This position represents the voice of the individual (patient, family and significant others, community and team members) while collaborating with leaders, medical staff, team members, affiliates, partners and the community to ensure extraordinary human experiences. Is responsible for managing the hospital's Patient Relations department which includes patient advocacy, grievance and complaint management, service recovery and language interpretation services. In addition, this individual is a subject matter expert for the purpose of educating and coaching leaders, physicians and team members on market data relative to the PE including CMS public reporting programs (i.e., HCAHPS and STAR ratings, etc.), rounding trends and outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in a healthcare field, Management, Business, Communications, Social Sciences, or other related field required.
Five (5) years of professional experience in a healthcare field, customer service, communications, business, social science, or related work, required.
One (1) of which shall have been in a lead or supervisory capacity required.
Experience should include triaging and addressing patient/family/customer concerns in a timely and efficient manner.
Must have experience with HCAHPS, CMS, and/or patient satisfaction surveys strong computer skills to perform daily operations; excellent communication skills; exceptional customer service skills and the ability to organize and resolve multiple priorities including conflict resolution and the ability to de-escalate issues in a fast-paced environment.
Must have strong leadership skills, excellent judgment, analytical thinking and excellent verbal and written skills.
Additional related experience may be substituted for the degree on a year-for-year basis.

Nice To Haves

Experience in Health Advocacy or related field helpful.
Bilingual skills preferred.

Responsibilities

Processes are patient centered.
Actively contributes to creating a friendly, welcoming, and safe environment for UH customers.
Drives collaboration with leadership, including physicians.
Organizes and monitors operations to accommodate and respond to patient needs, concerns, and complaints within 24-48 hours of complaint.
Continuously displays “can do” attitude within the department and across department lines to contribute to the overall customer service plan.
Monitors and analyzes data on patient satisfaction and takes corrective actions as appropriate.
Acts as a role model for Service Excellence, developing professional liaison with all customers.
Maintains professional composure and confidence during stressful situations.
Customer service scores for work area meet/exceed targets.
Ensures that all staff demonstrates respect for patient rights and are committed to the uniqueness of the individual patient.
Manages all aspects and functions of Patient Relations. Monitors daily productivity and efficiency for the purpose of apportioning work, evaluating team member performance, conducting disciplinary actions and/or implementing improvements or changes in staffing to enhance departmental operations.
Manages the Patient Representatives and Medical Language Interpreters. Holds agenda meetings, rounds, shadows, and coaches assigned staff on regular basis.
Develops and maintains monthly employee work schedules; maintains time and attendance records; reviews schedules and approves time off and vacation requests.
Establishes standards of performance for team members. Delegates responsibilities to team members and develops mechanisms to evaluate their effectiveness so that training, education and/or counseling for improvement can be completed.
Helps personalize and humanize the hospital experience by serving as a liaison between patients, families, and staff.
Works with patients to assure their concerns and issues are addressed by the appropriate party and coordinates problem solving for patient issues of a complex nature that involve more than one area. Follows up on cases to assure action has been taken.
Recognizes and diffuses anger/fear of patients and family members/significant others and refer issues to appropriate staff.
Educates patients, families/significant others and visitors about patient rights and hospital policies and procedures.
Recruits, hires and supervises Patient Relations staff. Completes timely annual evaluations.
Supervises the documentation of cases entered by Patient Relations staff into Vizient to ensure compliance with grievance policy. This includes ensuring that grievances/complaints are responded to as per policy and within established time limits. At the direction of the Assistant Director Human Experience, supervises staff investigations and edits letters to patients and families and visitors in response to grievances.
Organizes and prioritizes time and tasks to achieve effective work processes. Generates summaries, reports, memos, meeting minutes and correspondence, as appropriate, regarding patient relations related issues.
Proactively rounds on patient units to assess patients’ perceptions of care and triage issues to the appropriate healthcare providers.