Patient Access Liaison, Lead - Scheduling - Access Center - Full Time 8 Hour Days (Non-Exempt) (Union)

University of Southern California•Los Angeles, CA

15h

About The Position

The Patient Access Liaison, Lead serves as a primary point of contact for access to USC academic medical centers and the USC Health Sciences Campus. Under the direction of Access Center Leadership, the Lead supports team members by assigning daily duties, balancing workloads, scheduling, and leading daily huddles. The role is also a service recovery contact and works independently while assisting with department projects as needed. The Lead answers, screens, and directs incoming and outgoing calls, electronic messages, omnichannel contacts, and web-based communications using organizational communication systems. The position responds to basic inquiries, routes other inquiries to appropriate medical personnel, and distributes messages through electronic channels. It schedules, reschedules, and confirms appointments and procedures across clinical sites and divisions; registers patients; verifies insurance; and may advise patients about estimated financial responsibility. The role coordinates appointments with patients, patient coordinators, nurses, physicians, and referring physicians, and maintains related medical and appointment data. The Lead provides guidance, direction, and ad hoc training to Level 1 and Level 2 staff, serves as a resource for Patient Access Center information, and may support leadership with process updates, staffing, schedules, training materials, huddles, and special projects. The position may float to other organizational areas and may be assigned to work from home when organizationally deployed, following departmental guidelines. It must follow USC/Keck service, communications, and privacy standards.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent.
Three to five years of experience working in a call center and/or healthcare customer service department or environment; the posting also specifies a combination of experience totaling two or more years.
Demonstrated interpersonal skills.
Strong leadership skills.
Ability to multitask.
Cross-trained in multiple specialty areas.
Knowledge of insurance.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Fire Life Safety Training (LA City); if the required card is not held upon hire, it must be obtained within 30 days of hire and maintained through renewal before expiration. This requirement applies within LA City only.

Nice To Haves

Associate's or bachelor's degree in healthcare, business, or an operations field.
Vocational certificates or specialized training in healthcare, including appointment scheduling, registration, insurance verification, or medical assisting.
One year of lead experience.
Knowledge of HIPAA compliance and various health insurance types.
Knowledge of medical terminology.
High-level computer literacy with practice management scheduling systems.
Bilingual ability, including Spanish, Chinese, or other languages.

Responsibilities

Assign daily duties, balance workloads, help with scheduling, and lead daily huddles under the direction of Access Center Leadership.
Serve as a service recovery contact and first escalation point for service recovery matters forwarded by Level 1 and Level 2 staff.
Answer, screen, transfer, and direct incoming and outgoing calls, electronic messages, omnichannel contacts, and web-based communications.
Respond to basic inquiries and route other inquiries to appropriate medical personnel.
Contact medical personnel and distribute messages using electronic systems, including text, voice, and email.
Schedule, reschedule, cancel, and confirm medical appointments across clinical sites and divisions, as well as schedule diagnostic services and outpatient procedures.
Register patients and verify insurance coverage; determine whether coverage is contracted with USC and advise patients of estimated financial responsibility when applicable.
Coordinate care with patients, patient coordinators, nurses, physicians, and referring physicians to secure appointments, including multiple appointment types.
Analyze multiple schedules to provide patient access and maintain medical data and appointment records.
Perform data entry and maintain databases for schedule bumps and cancellations when needed.
Provide direction, guidance, and ad hoc training to Level 1 and Level 2 staff, including on-campus and remote staff.
Serve as a key resource for Patient Access Center information and demonstrate knowledge of assigned specialties.
Assist with updates to processes such as scheduling protocols, scripts, master schedules, and training materials.
Assist supervisors and leadership with huddles, affinity assignments, reporting, appointment conversions, projects, staffing plans, projections, and staff scheduling as needed.
Maintain provider master schedule data when needed and ensure information in the Call Management system and Qgenda is updated and accessible.
Follow departmental procedures and HIPAA requirements when processing messages and communicating with patients.
Float to organizational areas as assigned and work remotely when organizationally deployed, following departmental guidelines.
May page physicians, perform follow-up checks on open pages, and facilitate communication of security or emergency standards as directed.
Maintain accuracy, professionalism, collegiality, customer service, and first-call resolution in daily work; perform other duties as assigned.