Medical Lab Assistant

American Oncology Network•Germantown, MD

2d•$18 - $30•Onsite

About The Position

Assist physicians with medical procedures in office. Responsible for phlebotomy, laboratory testing, quality control, instrument troubleshooting, and maintenance. The Medical Lab Assistant will perform proper quality control procedures before proceeding with patient testing, perform laboratory blood work, and blood draws. They will follow laboratory procedures for specimen handling and processing, and perform technical laboratory procedures in a timely manner with accuracy and precision, meeting the standards of all accrediting and regulating agencies. The role involves preparing blood or bone marrow slides for evaluation, sending outside labs to the appropriate facility as dictated by the patient’s insurance plan, and maintaining test report logs, quality control logs, equipment records, and checklists according to all regulatory agencies. The assistant will follow the AON patient I.D. policy and procedure with every patient encounter, obtain vital signs, height, weight, pain level and PHQ9 depression screening of patient as requested by physician and document in the Onco/EMR system, and place the patient in the exam room and prepare for the physician in a timely manner. They will receive lab reports via the telephone, lab system, or fax and document in the patient’s chart or Onco/EMR for physician’s review. The Medical Lab Assistant will assist physicians with medical procedures such as bone marrows, fine needle aspirate, paracentesis, and pelvic exams. They will also schedule outside testing, referrals to other physicians and hospital admissions as ordered by physicians, if applicable. Documentation is crucial, including thorough documentation in the medical record chart of testing/treatment rendered to patients, preparing the encounter form to charge the patient for services received in office or initialing all steps in the process in EMR for electronic superbill, and documenting all QC and QA corrective action. The role requires showing the physician critical blood counts according to guidelines, obtaining all pertinent scan and CDs and preparing them for physician’s review, and maintaining an adequate inventory of supplies, placing orders with purchasing as needed. The assistant will initiate troubleshooting procedures when instrument malfunction occurs and contact the central lab or instrument service company, if necessary. They will perform EKG testing where applicable and any and all duties required to keep the laboratory in compliance with state and federal regulatory agencies. This includes performing compliance testing and taking the required number of CEUs annually to meet C.O.L.A. requirements. The role requires observing established safety guidelines and maintaining cleanliness of the laboratory and equipment, and complying with all Federal and State laws and regulations pertaining to patient care, patients’ rights, safety, billing, and collections. Adherence to all AON and departmental policies and procedures, including IT policies and procedures and Disaster Recovery Plan, and maintaining and ensuring the confidentiality of all patient information at all times is mandatory. The Medical Lab Assistant will assist in training new employees to related job duties and will be expected to work at any AON location to help meet AON business needs. Overtime may be required when given sufficient notice, and this job description does not limit the duties to only those listed. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instruction and to perform other job-related duties requested by their supervisor or other management personnel. Other duties may be assigned to meet business needs.

Requirements

High School or GED
As required by state where employed.
BLS required.
Valid Driver’s License and vehicle for travel to other clinic locations as needed.
One-year experience as a medical assistant in clinic or physician’s office with ability to perform venipuncture.
Critical thinking skills including solid problem solving, analysis, decision-making, planning, time management and organizational skills.
Must be detailed oriented with the ability to exercise independent judgment.
Developed interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, diplomacy, tact, conflict management, delegation skills, and diversity awareness.
Ability to work effectively with sensitive and confidential material and sometimes emotionally charged matters.
Good command of the English language.
Effective communication skills (oral, written, presentation), is an active listener, and effectively provides balanced feedback.
Strong customer focus.
Ability to build an engaging culture of quality, performance effectiveness and operational excellence through best practices, strong business and political acumen, collaboration and partnerships, as well as a positive employee, physician and community relations.
Effectively manages own time, conflicting priorities, self, stress, and professional development.
Self-motivated and self-starter with ability work independently with limited supervision.
Ability to work remotely effectively as required.
Must be able to work effectively in a fast-paced, multi-site environment with demonstrated ability to juggle competing priorities and demands from a variety of stakeholders and sites.
Proficiency in MS Office Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook required.
EMR.

Nice To Haves

Second language is an asset but not required.

Responsibilities

Performing proper quality control procedures before proceeding with patient testing.
Performing laboratory blood work.
Performing blood draws.
Following laboratory procedures for specimen handling and processing.
Performing technical laboratory procedures in a timely manner with accuracy and precision, meeting the standards of all accrediting and regulating agencies.
Preparing blood or bone marrow slides for evaluation.
Sending outside labs to appropriate facility as dictated by patient’s insurance plan.
Maintaining test report logs, quality control logs, equipment records, and checklists according to all regulatory agencies.
Following the AON patient I.D. policy and procedure with every patient encounter.
Obtaining vital signs, height, weight, pain level and PHQ9 depression screening of patient as requested by physician and documenting in the Onco/EMR system.
Placing patient in exam room and preparing for physician in a timely manner.
Receiving lab reports via the telephone, lab system, or fax and documenting in the patient’s chart or Onco/EMR for physician’s review.
Assisting physicians with medical procedures: bone marrows, fine needle aspirate, paracentesis, and pelvic exams.
Scheduling outside testing, referrals to other physicians and hospital admissions as ordered by physicians, if applicable.
Thorough documentation in medical record chart of testing/treatment rendered to patients.
Preparing encounter form to charge patient for services received in office or initials all steps in process in EMR for electronic superbill.
Documenting all QC and QA corrective action.
Showing physician critical blood counts according to guidelines.
Obtaining all pertinent scan and CDs and preparing for physician’s review.
Maintaining adequate inventory of supplies.
Placing orders with purchasing as needed.
Initiating troubleshooting procedures when instrument malfunction occurs and contact central lab or instrument service company, if necessary.
Performing EKG testing where applicable.
Performing any and all duties required to keep laboratory in compliance with state and federal regulatory agencies.
Performing compliance testing.
Taking the required number of CEUs annually to meet C.O.L.A. requirements.
Observing established safety guidelines and maintaining cleanliness of the laboratory and equipment.
Complying with all Federal and State laws and regulations pertaining to patient care, patients’ rights, safety, billing, and collections.
Adhering to all AON and departmental policies and procedures, including IT policies and procedures and Disaster Recovery Plan.
Maintaining and ensuring the confidentiality of all patient information at all times.
Assisting in training new employees to related job duties.
Working at any AON location to help meet AON business needs.
Working overtime when given sufficient notice of required overtime.