Patient Access Specialist - Access Center

University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)•Webster, TX

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Access Specialist represents UTMB as a welcoming, competent, and confident voice for Access Center callers. The role identifies callers’ needs and supports them through interactions with multiple functions and departments while providing professional, empathetic customer service. The specialist serves as a gateway to appointment scheduling for UTMB clinics and helps callers resolve concerns, manage appointments, and access appropriate care and resources. This position works in a standard office environment using standard office equipment. It is an onsite role, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and includes holidays. Employees may qualify for hybrid and/or remote scheduling after successfully completing training and meeting performance expectations. Actual salary is commensurate with experience.

Requirements

Associate’s degree and no experience, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
Ability to provide high-level customer service while handling a high volume of calls and multitasking.
Ability to analyze caller concerns, communicate professionally and empathetically, and determine appropriate next steps.
Ability to use software applications to schedule appointments and manage patient information.

Nice To Haves

Previous experience in a healthcare setting and/or high-volume call center environment.

Responsibilities

Provide high-level customer service for a 24/7, 365-day call center.
Answer a high volume of calls while multitasking and using available resources to schedule appointments and address callers’ needs.
Promote positive and professional communication and provide callers with an empathetic, reassuring experience.
Analyze caller concerns, determine the appropriate course of action, and communicate requests and solutions efficiently.
Schedule appointments for UTMB clinics and cancel or reschedule appointments according to patient needs and clinic guidelines.
Escalate patient concerns and issues using established processes.
Preregister patients as needed and collect or update demographic and insurance information to maintain accurate records.
Work with Access Center nursing staff to identify and resolve urgent patient issues.
Listen to and restate caller concerns to support accurate triage and effective communication.
Facilitate physician consultation requests and assist with patient referrals when appropriate.
Use AMCOM, EPIC, Invision, CECC, and other applications to manage patient information and facilitate care; use multiple media applications together as appropriate.
Follow UTMB regulations and guidelines when using systems.
Maintain knowledge of the institution, clinical departments, resources, locations, contact information, scheduling guidelines, personnel resources, area-specific and age-specific guidelines, disease-process-specific guidelines, and basic consumer health plan guidelines.
Understand clinic procedures and scheduling processes, educate callers, and use software applications to make appointments.
Use critical thinking to determine call priority and support nursing intervention.
Expedite callers’ concerns to appropriate individuals to enhance customer confidence.
Support the consumer online appointment request system.
Perform related duties as required.