Patient Access Specialist I

CommonSpirit Health • Edmonds, WA

4d

About The Position

The Patient Access Representative manages administrative duties for the patient intake process in a clinic, following established guidelines. The role interacts with patients in person and by phone to facilitate check-in and check-out, collect data and payments, validate insurance, schedule appointments, and process referrals and authorizations. Success requires critical thinking, strong customer service, and knowledge of insurance, billing, and medical terminology to provide a seamless, high-quality patient intake experience.

The position answers patient calls to schedule or reschedule clinic visits, including specialty visits based on authorized referrals. It uses Epic Provider Vista to schedule accurately and promptly, searches multiple provider schedules, applies provider-specific scheduling guidelines, and coordinates patients with providers who have the earliest availability. The role also answers questions within its scope, checks registration requirements, resolves non-complex issues or escalates them, and arranges special patient needs such as transportation or interpreters.

For medication refill calls, the role uses Epic smart phrases and the patient chart to identify the requested medication and pharmacy information, determines whether a provider appointment is needed, and schedules one when appropriate. Otherwise, it sends a complete, correctly formatted message to the clinic’s back-office staff to initiate the refill. The position also verifies insurance coverage at scheduling to support reimbursement and reduce eligibility denials.

Requirements

• One year of customer service work experience.

Nice To Haves

• Healthcare environment experience.

Responsibilities

• Answer patient calls requesting appointments while meeting established call quantity and quality standards.
• Schedule and reschedule clinic visits in accordance with established standards and procedures, including specialty visits based on authorized referrals.
• Use Epic Provider Vista to search provider schedules, apply scheduling preferences and visit-type guidelines, and coordinate appointments with providers who have the earliest availability.
• Respond to basic patient questions within the scope of the position and ensure registration requirements are met.
• Identify deficiencies, resolve non-complex issues, and escalate other issues to appropriate staff.
• Arrange special or ancillary patient needs, including transportation and interpreter services.
• Handle medication refill calls by locating medication and pharmacy information in Epic, determining whether an appointment is needed, scheduling when appropriate, and sending refill requests to back-office staff in the correct format.
• Verify insurance coverage at the time of scheduling.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed