Patient Advocate

Beth Israel Lahey Health•Plymouth, MN

About The Position

When you join the growing BILH team, you're not just taking a job, you’re making a difference in people’s lives. The Patient Advocate will support the vision and strategy for service excellence, as well as complaint/grievance management. Adept at combining in-depth knowledge of healthcare industry practices with analytical expertise to improve the customer experience. Serves as an expert in service excellence and patient satisfaction in order to elevate and maintain service results throughout the organization. The primary functions of this role include investigating, resolving, documenting and reporting of all patient and visitor compliments, concerns and major grievances to leadership and staff. S/he provides staff with overall strategies and tools as a means of elevating and maintaining outstanding service outcomes. Reports to: Patient Relations Manager Job Description:

Requirements

Possess strong customer service skills/interpersonal interactions with physicians/hospital leadership; ability to handle difficult and angry people constructively
Excellent analytical skills, including analysis, organizing and troubleshooting
Proficient in Windows-based operating software/systems and all Microsoft applications.
Excellent oral and written communication skills; presentation skills
Ability to work with minimal supervision
Must work in conjunction with staff in a supportive way to troubleshoot and resolve issues. Must be visible to staff, offering support and modeling service behaviors and concern resolution processes.
Must be able to address difficult, awkward situations with tact and diplomacy
Must be a team player and have proven success applying a team approach to obtain resolution to an issue or successfully accomplish a goal
Must be an informed regulatory healthcare representative for the patient and organization; must be able to communicate patient and visitor rights and responsibilities to patients, family members and staff
Ability to interpret the medical record as well as knowledge of current documentation policies and standards of care
Expertise in Patient Rights, CMS regulations, TJC/CMS standards, complaint/grievance management
Experience in supporting culture change and developing service delivery initiatives
Progressive experience in deploying process improvement, change management and project management initiatives.
Bachelor’s degree required

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in, healthcare related field - Preferred
De-escalation Training Preferred

Responsibilities

Facilitates resolution of complaints/grievances/requests by patients and visitors, coordinating with care providers and leadership. Documents patient/visitor complaint information into hospital database.
Complies with state and federal regulations regarding the investigation and resolution of patient/family complaints.
Conducts daily rounds on hospital units to assess patient and visitor satisfaction, proactive service recovery and patient safety.
Composes letters and/or emails to patients, visitors, physicians and leadership to ensure compliance with the BID-Plymouth grievance policy.
Interacts positively with all staff by rounding and offering assistance in relation to improving customer service.
Assists the Patient Relations/Service Excellence Manager with implementation and monitoring of new and current regulations.
Under the guidance of the Patient Relations Manager, contributes to patient satisfaction and implementing quality and service-oriented programs to facilitate a positive experience for patients, families, visitors and staff.
Works with Patient Relations/Service Excellence Manager to create educational programs and other service excellence and quality initiatives as needed for hospital employees.
Serves as a resource and support for physicians, staff and leadership in establishing an environment of proactive service recovery efforts. Collaborates with unit leadership to meet and/or exceed customer service and quality outcomes.
Interacts with patients and family members, provides emotional support and facilitates their access to hospital resources.
Coordinates and facilitates family meetings as needed in response to patients’ grievances.
Reports findings and recommendation to leadership for corrective measures and actions.
Participates in the development of hospital policies and procedures.
Participate in the execution of Service Excellence programs and Culture to impact the overall Customer Satisfaction and Experience.