Patient Scheduler, Community Wide Scheduling, 40-Hours, Days, Monday-Friday, One closing shift until 6:00pm

Heywood Hospital•Gardner, MA

22h•Onsite

About The Position

Heywood Healthcare values its employees and offers competitive wages, great benefits, and generous earned time off. This position is for a Patient Scheduler within the Community Wide Scheduling department, working 40 hours per week, primarily during the day on Monday through Friday, with one closing shift until 6:00 PM. The role involves accurately scheduling appointments, ensuring patient information is complete and up-to-date, verifying insurance coverage, and facilitating the pre-verification process. The scheduler will also handle patient registration when assigned to outpatient areas, work with external departments for optimal patient care scheduling, and communicate with the scheduling team. Responsibilities include ensuring authorizations are in place, notifying relevant departments about patient needs (like interpreters), referring uninsured patients to financial counselors, compiling data, and checking order accuracy. The role also involves managing patient complaints, contributing to system efficiency, and demonstrating flexibility in work assignments.

Requirements

Formal training beyond high school diploma preferred.
Medical terminology, spelling competence and computer experience essential.
Referral and/or third party experience billing preferable.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to perform multiple tasks with minimal supervision is essential.
Must be able to deal effectively and courteously with the public, physicians and all hospital personnel in a high volume setting.
Exerts up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.
Frequently reaches (extending hands and arms in any direction), and handles (seizing, holding, grasping, turning, or working with hands).

Nice To Haves

Achievement motivation
Flexibility
Concern for order
Initiative
Self-confidence
Self control
Customer service orientation
Interpersonal effectiveness
Teamwork
Information seeking

Responsibilities

Schedules appointments accurately following department guidelines.
Completes tasks assigned daily in timely, accurate, and efficient manner. Reporting to leadership when unable to finish tasks.
Ensures complete, accurate and current demographic, financial/insurance and other information for all patients scheduled for the hospital prior to patients appointment.
When conducting the phone interview with patient or conversations with the patient’s payer, concerns are raised regarding the patients insurance coverage or ability to meet the financial obligations for the scheduled visit the scheduler will notify the manager.
Print work list on each shift to ensure deadlines are met for verifications, pre-registrations, patient notifications and delivery of patient packets to clinical areas.
Facilitates the pre-verification process by taking appointments from the scheduling module, verifying the patient’s information via telephone and saving the account to a pre-registration status.
Correctly spells all information, especially diagnosis on all documents.
Completes updates accurately and completely, without disruption of telephone activity.
Attends staff meetings.
Immediately notifies supervisor of any backlogs or obstacles that prevent completion of assigned duties.
Job performance reflects compliance with Heywood’s performance standards; telephone etiquette, providing directions and first impressions.
When assigned to outpatient registration, accurately and expediently registers patients following department policies and procedures regarding insurance verification, collection of co payments, etc.
Works with external departments to ensure best patient care scheduling needs.
Open communication with Scheduling team for best patient care.
Upon making a scheduled appointment, ensures authorization is in place before appt is scheduled. Immediately notifies MD office if auth is needed or inaccurate.
Follows STAT department process and procedure.
Notifying the Multicultural department on patient interpreter needs. Utilizing the interpreter phone service to schedule appointments.
Refers uninsured patients to Financial Counselors when insurance coverage is not present/active. Also, providing a self pay estimate cost to patient/offices on schedule procedures.
Accurately compiles daily, weekly, and monthly data and statistics as requested.
Accurately verifying patient’s insurance.
Assists manager, as directed, in the training of new employees regarding scheduling processes in an accurate and complete manner.
Checks orders for accuracy, signature, date and diagnosis.
Contributes to the design, development, and maintenance of systems that help the department run efficiently.
Blocks appointments for ancillary departments and reschedules/notifies patients of change.
Work through patient complaints and direct them to patient advocate as needed.
Reflects a positive attitude in daily work. Is receptive, cooperative, committed and optimistic.
Adheres to hospital and department dress codes.
Responds cooperatively to staffing needs by demonstrating flexibility in work schedule or assignments.