Patient Service Specialist

Vanderbilt University Medical Center•Nashville, TN

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Patient Services Specialist (PSS) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center provides essential customer service functions, including managing appointments, handling cash, processing insurance updates, and facilitating patient check-in and check-out. This role is crucial for ensuring a smooth patient flow and requires the PSS to be the first point of contact, embodying courtesy, patience, and a professional appearance. The PSS must maintain composure and politeness, work effectively within a team, and possess the ability to multitask simultaneously. Vanderbilt Health is dedicated to an environment where everyone can thrive, valuing uniqueness and fostering a sense of purpose among its employees.

Requirements

High School Diploma or GED (or equivalent experience)
3 years in an office setting
At least one year in a medical setting
Medium Work category requiring exertion up to 50lbs of force occasionally and/or up to 20 of force frequently and/or up to 10 of force continually to move objects.
Occasional: Sitting, Standing, Walking, Bending/Stooping, Balancing, Climbing, Crawling, Kneeling, Crouching/Squatting, Reaching above shoulders, Reaching below shoulders, Handling, Fingering, Bimanual Dexterity.
Occasional: Communication: Expressing or exchanging written/verbal/electronic information.
Occasional: Auditory: Perceiving the variances of sounds, tones and pitches and able to focus on single source of auditory information.
Occasional: Vision: Clarity of near vision at 20 inches or less and far vision at 20 feet or more with depth perception, peripheral vision, color vision.
Occasional: Smell: Ability to detect and identify odors.
Occasional: Taste: Ability to detect quality, texture, consistency and taste of prepared foods/quality control.
Frequent: Noise: May include exposure to occupational noise levels which equal or exceed an 8-hr time-weighted average of 85 decibels, requiring enrollment in VUMC's Hearing Conservation Program.
Occasional: Pathogens: Risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens and other contagious illnesses.
Relevant Work Experience
2 years experience
High School Diploma or GED

Responsibilities

Greet patients and guests upon arrival and scan the reception area to ensure each patient is checked in.
Proactively communicate wait times or delays to patients and provide updates on revised wait times.
Maintain an organized work area and professional appearance.
Respond to each call with the standard greeting, answer calls within 3 rings, and place callers on hold with permission.
Provide complete transfer assistance to all incoming calls when needed and demonstrate phone service etiquette.
Listen to patients and direct calls to the appropriate person.
Schedule patient appointments with providers.
Follow appropriate steps to forward calls to the answering service at the end of each day.
Take accurate messages with appropriate detail.
Confirm patient appointments.
Pull and prepare patient charts for next-day visits.
Demonstrate on-stage and off-stage behavior as expected when representing VIP.
Initiate messages with correct information (Name, 2 identifiers, Reason for call) and forward messages appropriately.
Respond to all messages using correct spelling, grammar, and commentary appropriate for medical record documentation.
Identify and proactively assist a patient or visitor.
Provide accurate and complete directional assistance.
Schedule, pull, and prepare patient charts for same-day visits.
Organize and prepare patient records daily, ensuring privacy and accurate patient identification.
Review display notes for Referral and Central Registration needs.
Accurately determine which account to use for the visit.
Collect co-payments, document in EMR, and provide receipts.
Determine if a referral is needed from insurance and is in place for the visit.
Verify demographic & insurance information via open-ended questions.
Update registration if insurance has changed.
Scan insurance cards and rank each card as primary, secondary, or tertiary.
Maintain orderly appearance of reception area and ensure accountability of each patient check-in.
Manage reception area disruptions.
File lab slips, X-Ray reports, consult letters, and all other correspondence in patient charts.
Respond accurately to Frequently Asked Questions.
Collect encounter forms and verify accuracy and completeness.
Collect self-pay balances per clinic policy and verify credit balance before collecting co-pays.
Post professional charges.
Work with the Office Manager to reconcile charge batches, balance cash collections, reconcile cash discrepancies, prepare deposit, and take to central depository or bank daily.
Reconcile petty cash and submit to central depository daily.
Prepare Outside Medical Records for access during patient visit.
Prepare paper patient charts for storage or consolidation with the main medical record.
Respond to patient or other requests for medical record copies.
Schedule Incoming Patient & Referring MD Appointment Requests according to clinic standards.
Schedule Tests, Procedures & Outgoing Referral MD Appointment Requests according to clinic standards.