Patient Advocate | Full-Time | Leesburg Hospital

UF Health • Leesburg, FL

5d

About The Position

The Patient Experience Advocate supports and enhances the patient experience by proactively acting on behalf of patients and families. The advocate ensures concerns or perceptions about the quality of care or service delivered by UF Health Shands team members are heard promptly and addressed appropriately. This includes investigating, resolving, documenting, and reporting patient, family, and visitor compliments, complaints, and grievances.

The advocate develops, implements, and participates in hospital patient-experience initiatives. Serving as a trusted information resource, communication facilitator, consultant, and dispute-resolution practitioner, the advocate seeks fair and equitable solutions to patient-caregiver problems, recommends processes for managing conflict, and provides input to unit and departmental managers on policy, procedure, and practice changes that maintain patient rights. The role promotes effective relationships and communication between patients and caregivers.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in healthcare, business, or a related field; alternatively, five years of verifiable experience as a Patient Advocate in an academic health center will be considered in lieu of the degree.
• High regard for protecting the confidentiality of patient and corporate information.
• Strong customer service skills and ability to relate to people from diverse backgrounds, training, and experience.
• Ability to address difficult or awkward situations with tact and diplomacy and handle angry people constructively.
• High energy level.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiating skills, with the ability to influence across functional lines.
• Team-player ability and proven success using a team approach to resolve issues or accomplish goals.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and ability to learn job-specific applications rapidly.

Nice To Haves

• Ability to facilitate groups.
• Three years of recent experience in an acute care hospital facility.
• Knowledge of CMS CoP regulations and The Joint Commission standards for patient complaints and grievances.
• Knowledge of medical terminology.
• Knowledge of service improvement methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Act proactively on behalf of patients and families to support and enhance the patient experience.
• Ensure concerns about quality of care or service are heard in a timely manner and addressed appropriately.
• Investigate, resolve, document, and report patient, family, and visitor compliments, complaints, and grievances.
• Develop, implement, and participate in hospital patient-experience initiatives.
• Serve as an information resource, communication facilitator, consultant, and practitioner for dispute resolution.
• Seek fair and equitable solutions to patient-caregiver problems and suggest processes for managing conflicts.
• Provide input to unit and departmental managers on policy, procedural, and practice changes that maintain patient rights.
• Promote effective relationships and communication between patients and caregivers.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time