Patient Registration Spec

Covenant Health • Crossville, TN

3d • Onsite

About The Position

Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville, Tennessee, part of Covenant Health, is seeking a Patient Registration Specialist. This role is crucial for coordinating centralized scheduling of outpatient diagnostic and surgical procedures. The specialist will accurately collect and enter financial and demographic information, verify benefits, and ensure pre-certification requirements are met. This position also handles urgent or unscheduled registrations and informs patients about their financial responsibilities. Cumberland Medical Center is an acute care hospital with private patient rooms, offering comprehensive care in cardiology, orthopedics, maternity, cancer treatment, and wound care, alongside specialized programs like imaging, cardiac rehab, and sleep disorder care.

Requirements

• Minimum Education: None specified; any combination of formal education and/or prior work experience sufficient to demonstrate possession of the knowledge, skill, and ability needed to perform the essential tasks of the job, typically equivalent to a high school diploma or GED.
• Minimum Experience: One (1) year experience in a hospital or financial setting OR minimum three (3) years of total customer facing/customer service experience required.
• Licensure Requirement: None

Nice To Haves

• Preference may be given to individuals possessing a Bachelor’s degree in a directly-related field from an accredited college or university.

Responsibilities

• Collects co-payments/deposits based on verification information obtained, generates receipts, and delivers cash transactions to the cashier.
• Maintains strict confidentiality of patient information.
• Recommends updates to policies and procedures to the Coordinator to increase efficiency and promote data integrity.
• Notifies the Financial Counselor immediately of potential self-pay, worker’s compensation, or non-covered procedures.
• Makes patient type changes based on information from Medical Records Staff and/or Care Coordinators, ensuring supporting documentation.
• Ensures all reservations are properly documented to support departmental statistics.
• Enters faxed reservations into the HBOC scheduling system.
• Schedules operative and diagnostic procedures utilizing the HBOC scheduling system.
• Documents each scheduled procedure/event with detailed information.
• Notifies departments of any special resources required for a procedure/event.
• Verifies insurance benefits and obtains pre-certification from various third-party payers.
• Provides necessary documentation to DHS and Med Assist staff for patients needing financial assistance or TennCare enrollment.
• Gathers demographic, medical, and financial information for scheduling, registration, and verification using the HBOC computer system.
• Enters verification and pre-certification notes into the SMS financial system.
• Participates with clinical and care management areas to improve overall collections and cash flow.
• Analyzes claims denial data for opportunities to improve collections, enhance relations with insurance companies and physician practices, and improve workflow processes.
• Reports pertinent procedural changes/updates to appropriate leadership.
• Professionally interacts with patients, physicians, visitors, and other hospital staff.
• Stays abreast of regulatory and insurance requirements and incorporates changes into daily job functions.
• Ensures the registration process is handled professionally, maintaining a registration accuracy rate of 95 to 100 percent.
• Explains necessary information to patients/families, including consent for treatment, advance directives, medical/financial release, deposit requirements, billing and payment policies, and advanced beneficiary notices.
• Recognizes situations requiring supervision and seeks appropriate resources.
• Directs, escorts, and/or provides wheelchair assistance to patients to the appropriate area after registration.
• Demonstrates motivation for acceptable productivity.
• Understands departmental goals and objectives in relation to Covenant Health's mission and values.
• Performs pre-registration process via phone and mail, advising patients of co-pay or deductible amounts due.
• Maintains an accurate bed board using the computerized bed tracking system to minimize patient wait times.
• Coordinates with Nursing Services on the flow of inpatient and observation patient admissions.
• Demonstrates competence in using Information Computer Systems for patient registration and scheduling (DeRoyal, HBOC, Account Link, Medifax).
• Updates schedules daily with unexpected procedures, cancellations, or changes and communicates with affected individuals.
• Shows initiative to cross-train in all duties related to scheduling, registration, verification, and pre-certification.
• Prepares patient account folders by scanning vital registration/scheduling/verification documents into the optical imaging system (e.g., insurance cards, financial agreements, physician orders).
• Indexes scanned documents using the optical scanning system into the correct electronic file folder.
• Demonstrates the ability to handle varying tasks and set priorities.
• Utilizes available resources appropriately (hospital equipment, supplies).
• Activates manual systems for computer network downtime and prints schedules in advance when necessary.
• Notifies leadership of unscheduled downtime occurrences.
• Coordinates scheduling of classrooms for meetings and conferences, providing confirmation.
• Follows policies, procedures, and safety standards.
• Completes required education assignments annually.
• Works toward achieving goals and objectives and participates in quality improvement initiatives.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Fully accredited by the Joint Commission
• Acute care hospital offering all private patient rooms
• Comprehensive care including cardiology, orthopedics, maternity, cancer treatment, and wound care
• Emergency and critical care
• Surgical suites
• Specialized programs such as imaging, cardiac rehab, sleep disorder care, and hyperbaric medicine
• Family-oriented environment focused on exceptional patient care

What This Job Offers

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