Med Access Technician Supervisor

University of California, San Francisco•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

This role involves all aspects of the medication use process, including procurement, prescribing, compounding, dispensing, storage of medications, administration, and monitoring. The supervisor partners with physicians and other clinicians to provide treatments and advice to patients, records patient history relating to medication use, and ensures the safe and secure storage of medications and related supplies. They advise physicians in determining the best possible treatments for specific diseases, stay current on pharmacy regulations, treatments, and developments in research and design. Pharmacists are the experts on drug therapy and the primary health professionals who optimize medication use for patient benefit. This role meets the educational needs of patients, healthcare teams, students, and residents, and ensures adherence to regulatory and fiscal requirements. The position provides immediate supervision to a unit or group of operational or technical employees. A portion of time may be spent performing individual tasks related to the unit; however, supervisory activities must constitute a primary part of the job. The supervisor oversees unit operations to ensure compliance with departmental or organizational policies, procedures, and defined internal controls. They ensure accountability and stewardship of department resources (operational, financial, and human) in compliance with departmental standards and procedures. This role provides supervision for technical support staff engaged in preparing and stocking prescribed medication. Responsibilities include staff scheduling, timekeeping, training, goal setting, and performance evaluations.

Requirements

Licensed Pharmacy Technician by the California Board of Pharmacy and in good standing
Three-years experience in a Specialty Pharmacy and/or in a retail/community pharmacy, managed care, ambulatory or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Good communication, via telephone, in person and electronically
Excellent interpersonal skills; Ability to work effectively with a large, diverse population including maintaining good relationship between Pharmacy and Ambulatory clinics.
Knowledge of relevant Pharmacy Department, medical center, and UC policies and protocols including medication storage, safety, and patient privacy and treatment.
Demonstrated ability to prioritize effectively to meet deadlines in a complex, challenging environment.
Demonstrated ability to solve patient problems and suggest solutions through a critical thinking process.
Ability to listen actively to clinical staff and patients, understanding varying viewpoints and receiving feedback.
Ability to perform all commonly applicable functions in clinical documentation applications and pharmacy database technology and train others to effectively use applications

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training.
Completion of a recognized/accredited Pharmacy Technician Training Program

Responsibilities

Staff management and supervision
Workflow Management: Oversees daily technician workflows, assigns tasks, and ensures operational needs, policies, and procedures are consistently met.
Staffing and Resource Management: Manages staffing resources, including scheduling, recruitment, onboarding, competency assessments, and performance evaluations for technicians.
Compliance and Documentation: Ensures compliance with hospital, departmental, and regulatory requirements including timely training completion.
Cross-Functional Communication: Facilitates effective communication and collaboration among pharmacists, technicians, and other stakeholders regarding pharmacy operations and systems.
Training and Development: Coaches and trains staff, establishes clear expectations, develops problem-solving skills, and promotes a positive, supportive work environment. Conducts training and competency development for staff, ensuring compliance with departmental standards.
Precepts learners (e.g., pharmacy technician students, pharmacy students) and supports their learning by providing direct instruction related to the service.
Coordinates training and orientation for new staff, pharmacy students, and residents in technician-related skills and duties.
Develops, schedules, and evaluates staff development and continuing education activities for technicians.
Operational Workflow Duties
Prior Authorization (PA) and Financial Assistance Facilitation: Under the oversight of pharmacists, drives the Prior Authorization (PA) process to completion and resolves any related issues.
Performs medication benefits investigation and accurately submits prior authorizations to insurance manually, electronically, or telephonically as necessary.
Notifies the patient and documents the status of the PA and financial assistance in APeX.
Follows up with health insurance payors that don’t respond to submitted PA requests.
Works with pharmacists or providers for any denials and appeals.
Evaluates patient assistance program (PAP) opportunities if necessary.
Refill Authorization: Receives and processes refill requests from clinic personnel, a pharmacy or patients.
Using a refill protocol, evaluates refill requests for adherence to the refill protocol criteria; this involves reviewing APeX and contacting a patient.
Notifies pharmacist of specific refill protocol criteria that are not met after assessment.
Notates the need for a provider appointment where applicable.
Discusses recommendations and other pertinent information with the pharmacist.
Conducts a search for any lab test(s) that is needed to fulfill the protocol and analyzes EMR for any needed lab test(s) and notates this need; if needed, inform patients about needed labs.
Pend the order or request for provider appointment based on pharmacist judgment via APeX.
Properly documents each refill request in the patient’s chart.
Program Development Duties
Reporting and Metrics: Monitors and prepares monthly reports on PA and financial assistance metrics.
Stakeholder Relations: Collaborates with the Medication Access Manager to foster clinic relationships and provides actionable feedback to improve processes.
Quality assurance: Reviews refill, PA and FA activities for accuracy, completeness, and adherence to established guidelines and recommends workflow changes for any identified gaps.