Medical Office Assistant I - GI Laboratory

Bassett Healthcare Network•Village of Cooperstown, NY

About The Position

The Medical Office Assistant I serves as a first point of contact for patients and provides administrative support to ambulatory patient care teams. The role supports a high-quality patient experience through courteous customer service, accurate communication with nurses and providers, appropriate appointment scheduling, and collection of demographic and financial information. Duties may include payment collection, cash handling, insurance eligibility processing, and managed-care information handling. The position encompasses reception and call handling; outpatient registration, appointment scheduling, and referral processing; payment collection and cash handling; and general office support, cross-coverage, and confidentiality. The assistant helps patients navigate their visits, maintains accurate records in electronic systems, protects patient health information, and adapts to workflows across the network. The role also requires maintaining job-specific knowledge and competency through training, educational opportunities, and required in-services.

Requirements

Minimum one year of relevant work experience.
Computer skills.
Customer service skills.
Time-management skills.
Ability to maintain confidentiality.
Interpersonal skills and ability to interact with people.
Ability to meet the stated physical requirements, including frequent typing and clerical dexterity, hearing, standing, talking, walking, and computer/monitor use.

Nice To Haves

High school diploma or GED preferred.
Two-year associate degree preferred; an associate degree may be considered toward one year of relevant work experience.
Minimum one year of customer service experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Greet patients courteously, answer calls according to department standards, take and follow up on accurate messages and prescription requests, and keep patients informed about provider delays.
Escalate emergent situations and patient concerns to the supervisor, supervising nurse, or provider as appropriate.
Provide new patients and eligible established adult patients with required welcome and advance-directive information; offer MyBassett enrollment opportunities.
Complete outpatient registration and maintain accurate demographic, insurance, PCP, billing, and regulatory information in appropriate systems.
Schedule and reschedule appointments according to patient needs and department guidelines; confirm appointments and update patient communication preferences.
Process urgent and routine referrals within applicable timelines, obtain and document prior authorizations when appropriate, and follow up with referred-to providers on appointment attendance and results.
Inform patients of expected co-payments and receive, receipt, and balance payments and cash drawers in accordance with finance policies.
Handle incoming patient documents, correspondence, forms, medical-record information, scanning, indexing, filing, and mail according to organizational procedures.
Maintain office supplies, records, and filing systems; open or close clinics and provide cross-coverage at other locations or departments as requested.
Assist patients through all stages of their visits, use two identifiers when identifying patients, provide appropriate forms, and communicate patient issues to providers.
Access and safeguard patient health information only as required for job duties and maintain confidentiality.
Maintain competency in required systems and job-specific topics, attend in-services and educational opportunities, and perform related duties as assigned.