Patient Access Specialist, Overnights

Northwestern Memorial Healthcare • Lake Forest, IL

1d

About The Position

The Patient Access Specialist supports Northwestern Medicine’s patient-first mission by delivering excellent customer service and helping patients navigate scheduling, registration, and related processes. The role protects patient confidentiality, follows applicable policies and regulatory requirements, and works with patients, physicians’ offices, hospital departments, and scheduling staff to support accurate, timely patient access. The position includes cross-training across departments to help ensure coverage, and schedules may change to reflect business needs.

The specialist gathers and verifies patient demographic, insurance, and registration information; schedules appointments; checks medical necessity and insurance eligibility; communicates financial and referral information; and records clear, accurate notes and handoffs in Epic and other systems. The role also contributes to quality assurance and improvement activities, helps resolve service issues, supports coworkers and new staff, and completes other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Two to three years of customer service or medical office experience.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Ability to read, write, and communicate effectively in English.
• Proficiency with computer data entry and typing; ability to type 40 words per minute.
• Basic computer skills and ability to use computer applications efficiently for the position.
• Ability to multitask.
• Customer-service orientation.
• Excellent organizational, time-management, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

Nice To Haves

• Additional education.
• Additional language skills.
• Healthcare finance and/or healthcare insurance experience.
• Knowledge and experience in a healthcare setting, especially patient scheduling and/or registration.

Responsibilities

• Provide courteous, patient-first customer service and respond to patient questions and concerns, escalating extraordinary issues when appropriate.
• Maintain patient confidentiality in accordance with HIPAA regulations and follow organizational, department, compliance, regulatory, and accreditation requirements.
• Collect and verify patient demographic information and the minimum data required for complete registration; update information in registration systems and help prevent duplicate records.
• Interact with hospital departments and physicians’ offices to schedule and direct patients through Northwestern Medicine systems.
• Contact patients to schedule appointments as defined and communicate information about physician referrals, insurance referrals, and consultations.
• Perform medical necessity checks when needed and explain options when an appointment does not meet requirements.
• Inform patients about issues securing the financial account for an encounter and provide out-of-pocket estimates when requested.
• Collect authorization numbers in applicable systems and verify insurance eligibility and benefit levels using online tools or by phone.
• Run real-time eligibility checks for patients and follow applicable out-of-network policies.
• Use online order retrieval systems to verify or print patient orders; document order retrieval and provide accurate handoff instructions and notes to scheduling staff in Epic.
• Send clear, descriptive, grammatically correct Epic messages and telephone encounters.
• Double-check tests, preparation requirements, potential conflicts, appointment time and location, and relevant information for check-in staff.
• Analyze account activity, identify problems, and initiate appropriate resolutions while avoiding patient financial or safety risks.
• Use service recovery skills to resolve service breakdowns and communicate customer satisfaction issues to appropriate individuals.
• Participate in quality assurance reviews and departmental quality-improvement activities; monitor registration, scheduling, and insurance verification against quality standards.
• Suggest process improvements to enhance customer service and operational efficiency, and adjust processes as needed to meet standards.
• Use organizational and departmental resources efficiently and understand applicable quality metrics.
• Provide training and education as needed, act as a resource for new staff and coworkers, and share workflow information.
• Collaborate professionally across departments, support staff in departments providing direct patient care, and help coworkers as needed.
• Manage work efficiently, complete tasks and assignments on time, adapt to changing schedules and healthcare policies, and perform other duties as assigned.
• Attend intra- or interdepartmental meetings as needed, which may involve walking within the Northwestern Medicine campus.

Benefits

• Tuition reimbursement
• Loan forgiveness
• 401(k) matching
• A wide range of benefits supporting employees’ physical, emotional, and financial well-being and protection for unexpected life events

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Education Level: High school or GED