Patient Registration Spec

Covenant Health•Morristown, TN

About The Position

The Patient Registration Specialist coordinates centralized scheduling for outpatient diagnostic and surgical procedures and collects and enters the financial and demographic information required to register patients. The role verifies benefits and pre-certification requirements before scheduled appointments or admissions, follows up on urgent or unscheduled registrations, and helps ensure patients understand their liability. The specialist works with patients, families, clinical and care management teams, insurers, physician practices, and hospital departments to support accurate registration, scheduling, collections, and patient flow. The role also maintains patient confidentiality, supports data integrity and process improvements, keeps current with regulatory and insurance requirements, and contributes to quality improvement activities.

Requirements

At least one year of experience in a hospital or financial setting, or at least three years of total customer-facing/customer-service experience.
Education and/or prior work experience sufficient to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the essential tasks; typically equivalent to a high school diploma or GED.
No licensure requirement.

Nice To Haves

A bachelor’s degree in a directly related field from an accredited college or university is preferred.

Responsibilities

Collect co-payments and deposits based on verified information, issue receipts, and deliver cash transactions to the cashier for posting.
Maintain the confidentiality of patient information.
Recommend updates to policies and procedures to improve efficiency and data integrity.
Immediately notify the Financial Counselor when scheduling or registering potential self-pay patients, workers’ compensation patients, or patients with non-covered procedures.
Make patient-type changes based on information from Medical Records staff or Care Coordinators and ensure supporting documentation is present in the medical record.
Document reservations properly to support departmental statistics.
Schedule operative and diagnostic procedures using the HBOC scheduling system and document each procedure or event in detail.
Notify departments about special resources required for a procedure or event.
Verify insurance benefits and obtain pre-certification from third-party payers.
Provide documentation to DHS and Med Assist staff for patients who may need financial assistance or TennCare enrollment.
Gather demographic, medical, and financial information for scheduling, registration, and account verification; enter verification and pre-certification notes.
Work with clinical and care management areas to identify opportunities to improve collections and cash flow.
Analyze claims denial data to identify opportunities to improve collections, insurer and physician-practice relations, and workflows.
Report relevant procedural changes and updates to appropriate leadership.
Stay current with regulatory and insurance requirements and incorporate changes into daily work.
Maintain a professional and accurate registration process, with a stated registration accuracy rate of 95 to 100 percent.
Explain consent for treatment, advance directives, medical and financial releases, deposits, billing and payment policies, and advance beneficiary notices to patients or family members.
Direct, escort, or provide wheelchair assistance to patients after registration to the appropriate nursing unit or diagnostic testing area.
Conduct pre-registration by phone and mail and advise patients of co-pay or deductible amounts due upon admission.
Maintain the bed board using the computerized bed tracking system and coordinate inpatient and observation admissions with Nursing Services.
Use patient registration and scheduling information systems, including DeRoyal, HBOC, Account Link, and Medifax.
Update schedules daily for unexpected procedures, cancellations, or changes and communicate revisions to affected individuals.
Cross-train in scheduling, registration, verification, and pre-certification duties.
Prepare patient account folders by scanning and indexing registration, scheduling, and verification documents into the correct electronic files.
Use hospital equipment and supplies appropriately.
Activate manual processes during computer network downtime, print schedules in advance when necessary, and notify leadership of unscheduled downtime.
Coordinate classroom scheduling for meetings and conferences and confirm the correct date and time.
Follow policies, procedures, and safety standards; complete annual education assignments; work toward goals and objectives; and participate in quality improvement initiatives as requested.
Perform other duties as assigned.