Medical Practice Assistant

Parkland Health

About The Position

The Medical Practice Assistant provides patient-centered care and operational support to the medical team to promote an optimal patient experience. The role coordinates clinical-area activities, facilitates patient flow, assists with patient data collection, performs selected screenings, and completes medical office functions relevant to the assigned area. The position supports patients and families throughout their visit, including greeting them, addressing inquiries, communicating wait times, and helping ensure their comfort, safety, privacy, and confidentiality. It also performs registration and coverage-related tasks, scheduling, referrals, charge capture, cash collection and reconciliation, documentation, and clinic supply and equipment support. The assistant follows patient-safety and infection-control practices and contributes to quality and performance-improvement activities. For Virtual Care Only assignments, the role additionally engages patients through motivational interviewing and follow-up, helps them navigate the health system and access community resources, supports electronic communication and virtual-care tools, documents patient encounters, and collaborates with a multidisciplinary team to improve access and address barriers to care.

Requirements

Three years of customer service experience.
Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to deliver patient/customer service that exceeds patient expectations, as evidenced by patient satisfaction scores.
Ability to demonstrate competency required for the applicable specialty area.
Above-average verbal communication skills for substantial public contact and written communication skills.
Familiarity with diagnostic ICD-9-CM coding and HCPCS-CPT4 procedure codes.
Working knowledge of medical terminology.
Basic clerical skills and working knowledge of standard office equipment.
Attention to detail and analytical skills to resolve registration issues involving third-party payors, physicians, patients, and the system.
Ability to solve problems within established policies and procedures.
Ability to adjust to multiple demands, shifting priorities, and rapid change.
For Virtual Care Only: Ability to work collaboratively and effectively with patients who have serious health conditions and barriers to care.
For Virtual Care Only: Ability to recognize when clinical decisions should be escalated to appropriate multidisciplinary team members.
For Virtual Care Only: Strength in electronic health record documentation and ability to solve problems when facing decision-making challenges, escalating as appropriate.
For Virtual Care Only: Confidence using technology, including electronic medical records, video encounters, and computer applications.

Nice To Haves

Patient registration experience.
Completion of coursework toward accredited medical terminology.
Medical Office Assistant experience or training.
Bilingual skills.

Responsibilities

Coordinate patient-service activities with the clinical team and facilitate patient flow.
Ensure patient and family comfort, safety, privacy, and confidentiality.
Adapt work methods to patients’ physical, psychosocial, cultural, and age- or developmental-specific needs.
Greet patients and families, provide directions and information, address requests, and keep them informed of wait times or circumstances that may affect their visit.
Remain aware of clinical-area needs and assess whether patient needs were met at the end of each visit.
For Virtual Care Only: Proactively contact patients using motivational interviewing; build trust, gather information, encourage engagement in healthcare, and follow up on patient-established goals.
For Virtual Care Only: Help patients and families navigate the health system, make appointments, access advocacy and community resources, and set up electronic communication such as email or MyChart.
Coordinate clinic activities and business processes in accordance with standards.
Gather patient information from internal and external sources before visits so it is available to the clinic team.
Check patients into the clinic; correctly identify them; and review and update accounts to ensure registration and coverage information is current and complete.
Confirm or verify coverage as needed and refer patients for financial counseling when appropriate.
Collect upfront payments and receive, verify, and post transactions according to cash management policies; account for funds, complete daily reconciliations, and ensure daily deposits.
Assist with appointments, referrals, and information retrieval; schedule appointments according to clinical team direction and patient preferences and availability.
Perform charge capture and charge reconciliation so encounters are complete and closed promptly.
For Virtual Care Only: Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to improve access to care and reduce avoidable organizational utilization.
Ensure documentation is complete, accurate, legible, and timely; obtain applicable registration and visit documents; explain requested forms; and enter patient care intake information.
For Virtual Care Only: Enter and document patient encounter information.
Assist with clinic supplies and equipment, including stocking and inventory; communicate supply and equipment status; and complete applicable requisitions.
Practice patient-safety measures and proper hand hygiene and infection-control methods; identify, correct, or report hazards; facilitate equipment maintenance and work orders; remove equipment from patient-care areas when appropriate; and notify Environmental Services when additional cleaning is needed.
For Virtual Care Only: Escalate critical incidents and quality-of-care concerns to the multidisciplinary team.
Participate in performance-improvement and quality initiatives and meet expected quality measures for assigned areas.
Perform the role at an alternate Parkland location when required by operational need.