Practice Coordinator 3

UCSF•San Francisco, CA

1d•$36 - $52•Onsite

About The Position

As a patient-focused organization, UCSF Medical Center exists to enhance the health and well-being of people through patient care, research and education. Success in this mission requires a culture of collaboration, excellence, leadership, and respect. UCSF Medical Center seeks faculty and staff that are committed to the values of professionalism, respect, integrity, diversity, and excellence that are integral to our mission. The Practice Coordinator is primarily responsible for representing the administrative team as the public face of the Practice and works closely with the administrative, clinical and management teams to support practice operations and customer service recovery and intervention efforts. Provides support to all functions of the administrative teams including but not limited to CRM messages, telephone encounters, referrals, APeX in-baskets, scanning, filing, authorizations, and billing. The PC is responsible for the maintenance of all routine clerical operations and communications. Adheres to the UCSF House and Telephone Standards and is sensitive to the needs of patients, staff, and providers at all times. The PC is a team player who works closely with others and who is flexible in dealing with changing priorities. Requires a self-reliant individual who synthesizes knowledge of practice operations in order to problem-solve, prioritize, and facilitate complex transactions in the course of daily activities. This position makes a difference for patients in an outpatient care unit by providing excellent customer service, facilitating and ensuring the accuracy of the information flow between medical, hospital staff, and departments to maximize unit efficiency. The PC is required to work at any UCSF campus as needed and scheduled.

Requirements

High School graduate or equivalent with four years related experience, or college degree and 9 months related experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience
Successfully passes fingerprinting protocol and is approved to be a cash collector if applicable
Strong computer skills, including basic keyboarding skills, and experience with at least two Office type software programs (i.e., Outlook, Word and Excel)
Proven ability to navigate through multiple patient records systems
Able to sit at a computer terminal with telephone headphones for extended period of time
Ability to analyze situations, prioritizes, and develops solutions and makes recommendations.
Ability to work with minimal supervision
Ability to use good judgment and work independently, at times under the pressure of deadlines
Ability to access situations prioritizes workload, develop solutions and make recommendations
Excellent customer service and communication/interpersonal skills, both over the telephone and directly
Able to sit at a computer terminal with telephone headphones for extended periods of time
Basic math skills required
Proven ability to deal with a wide variety of individuals,
Ability to deal sensitively and effectively with patients
Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills
Strong writing skills to include the ability to compose, edit, and proof a wide variety of documents.
Demonstrated administrative/office coordination skills.
Demonstrated knowledge of medical practice terminology
Within six months of start date, based upon completion of training, the Supervisor, completes the proficiency checklist with the employee This includes the following areas if applicable: Referrals (Incoming referral entry) and handling all referral WQs, Schedule surgeries, Work applicable work queues, Enter/edit outside test results, Messaging (CRM) if applicable, 2nd calls in CRM if applicable, Telephone encounters, My open encounter, Staff message, New message, Route Patient advice request to providers (My Chart), Patient Schedule (My Chart), Letters, Pools Patient look up, Check in process, Check out process, Comment field, Quick note, Scanning

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated experience in health care (may include medical, dental or veterinary) in the following areas patient scheduling, insurance verification, medical record data abstraction, or patient financial services
Prior experience with appointment, ancillary service or surgical scheduling or a combination of all three
Bi-lingual or multi-lingual capability (Spanish, Cantonese, and Russian) strongly preferred
Prior experience with EPIC.

Responsibilities

New Patient Scheduling and Processing: Review and work referral work queues, document activities within the referral record, act as the primary contact for referring physicians and new patients, maintain electronic logs for external referrals, create referral records for accurate tracking and documenting of external referrals, assign new patients to providers, schedule and register patients by telephone or in person, complete appropriate practice intake paperwork, follow established practice guidelines to ensure new patients are seen within prescribed time lines, communicate any problems with the schedule with supervisor, collect and verify insurance and referral/authorization information for first appointment, schedule and coordinate any pre-appointment tests or appointments, explain first appointment procedures in layman's terminology to patient, prepare and mail New Patient Packet or send through MyChart, give directions and instructions to patients before the first appointment, manage patient expectations by providing practice-specific guidelines related to service/visit, seek clinical input when appropriate, create a professional and positive first impression for patients and referring physicians, demonstrate good judgment and common sense.
Advanced New Patient Scheduling and Coordination: Secure outside medical records, CDs of scans and pathology slides, review them for completeness, determine which physician can best evaluate the patient, prioritize new patient scheduling based on diagnosis and current treatment status, inform patients about possible treatment scheduling options, coordinate clinical trials and screening with appropriate research personnel and physician, consult with appropriate department to coordinate care, optimize schedules, and expedite services, meet with patient after the visit to explain how care is coordinated with possible clinical trials, testing, surgical procedures and care within other departments and with other external providers.
Surgery Scheduling: Coordinate scheduling of all outpatient and inpatient surgeries, ensure all surgical procedures are scheduled within a clinically appropriate time frame, interface with patients, physicians and hospital staff to ensure adequate communication regarding all aspects of surgical services, interact with clinical and academic staff to coordinate surgical activities with physician's other responsibilities, process complex hospital admission forms, schedule pre-surgical tests and appointments, secure all necessary resources and equipment for surgery, manage complex scheduling coordination related to securing OR time outside of designated block time, work to maximize OR and surgical robots utilization as well as complex joint cases with one or more additional surgeons or other services.
Advanced Surgery Scheduling: Coordinate pre-operative anesthesia appointments with other testing, authorization coding and scheduling the surgery, coordinate complex admission, discharge and planning involving hospital reservations and authorizations related to study patients on protocol, transfers from outside hospitals and post transfer urgent authorizations and surgical planning, work with patients and staff to confirm availability and accuracy of medical information within APeX and to ensure compliance with all hospital policies and procedures, secure authorization for surgical procedures and coordinate with Hospital Admissions Department, communicate with the surgeon post-surgery to confirm if any additional surgical procedure was performed and to follow up with the insurance company immediately to amend the authorization, act as primary liaison to procedure billing team to coordinate updated authorizations and or TARs for mid procedure changes or additions, ensure compliance with Medical Center bylaws and Regulations ensuring the diagnosis is confirmed before treatment is offered through formal review of any and all outside studies and pathology, ensure appropriate and timely communication and documentation with the patient and the physician, interact with patients to secure surgical consent for cosmetic services, arrange post-surgical appointments and testing.
Revenue Cycle: Perform cash collection and depositing functions, communicate Medical Center administrative and financial policies clearly to patients, answer patient account questions, obtain and document insurance authorizations for established patient visits referrals and procedures or ancillary services, communicate clinical information from medical records authorization requests to insurance companies, demonstrate competency working with CPT codes and ICD-9 and ICD-10 for the purpose of scheduling and securing authorization, work with patients and staff to confirm availability and accuracy of medical information within APeX and to ensure compliance with all hospital policies and procedures.
Moderate Complex Revenue Cycle: Monitor provider(s) open charts and encounters and work with providers to complete encounter documentation in a timely manner, assist provider with instructions on how to close encounters opened in error, work RFI work queues to secure information for accurate billing submissions or to respond to denials, secure authorization for procedures, specialty visits and ancillary testing and coordinate with Hospital Admissions Department, provide assistance with complex DME authorizations, provide assistance with medication authorization for new medications and refills.
Advanced Revenue Cycle: Secure complex insurance authorizations for services, medications, or testing and track the authorizations for renewal, demonstrate competency working with HCPC codes and able to look up and locate the appropriate codes for the purpose of requesting authorization, identify and interpret a patient's insurance benefit package, utilize this information to direct authorization requests and to coordinate these services for patients, review and analyze monthly denial reports, initiate retro authorizations from denial report, identify trends in denials and work with practice team and supervisors to develop and implement improved workflows to minimize denials, compile and analyze data for reports to track basic revenue cycle measurements, oversee and coach staff on complex authorization requests, address patient complaints from patients regarding billing, track patterns of billing complaints and identify patterns which can be addressed with coaching and education of staff and providers, understand the concept of managed care and knowledgeable about the resources available to staff, assist patients to understand the concept of managed care, review all upcoming visits to determine patient eligibility and assist with transitioning patients who are no longer eligible to new primary care practices, act as department resource for insurance questions and insurance updates, produce reports and review with staff cash collection barriers, improve cash collection rates for the practice.
Check in / Front Desk: Greet and welcome patients making eye contact and utilizing AIDET standards, determine a patient's co-pay obligation and collect it at the time of the visit, give priority to the timely registration of patients on check in, communicate with patients in a confidential professional manner using tact and diplomacy, monitor and maintain the reception area, observe the waiting area and perform customer service intervention when patients have been waiting a long time or are not receiving adequate service, assist patients with use of Kiosk and actively work to promote Kiosk utilization.
Advanced Check in/ Front Desk: Responsible for front end office responsibilities including registration and front desk duties, referral processing, authorization coordination and review, cash deposits, DME oversight and scheduling functions, act as a Care Support Assistant for the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) funded clinical team, develop and analyze front desk productivity reports in partnership with the management team to improve co-pay collection rates and accurate payer plan capture, identify opportunities for productivity improvement and assist management team with staff coaching and workflow enhancement, provide support to all functions of the administrative teams to include message boards, referrals, Apex in baskets, scanning and filing, create Cadence schedule templates for providers, understand how template construction effects access and work to ensure templates are user friendly and help promote consistent clinic access, generate reschedule reports in Cadence and work with other members of administrative team to ensure patients are rescheduled in a timely manner.
Administrative and Patient Care Coordination Responsibilities: Schedule established patient appointments using Apex and its related components, understand the distinction of each medical practice and how care is delivered in each setting, coordinate appointments with multiple providers as required, discuss practice policies and procedures with patients and referring physicians, answer questions about provider schedules and act as a resource to other medical center practices and ancillary service administrative staff, provide prompt and convenient appointment access to patients, adhere to the provider productivity standards as established in APEX templates for the practice and schedule appointments with the appropriate appointment type, screen all telephone calls, screening for emergencies and routing all messages, requests for same day appointments, refill requests, etc. to the appropriate box, utilize legacy systems and Apex to retrieve pertinent patient data, follow practice procedure for follow-up of missed appointments, cover Apex in baskets and phone messages when other members of the team are absent, adjust priorities as required for smooth operation of the practice and notify the clinical staff, provide administrative support to providers in coordination of patient care, schedule procedures and tests providing appropriate instructions to patients, collaborate with clinical staff in problem-solving patient needs and requests for same day appointments and other appointments requiring care coordination, work together with the clinical staff in the processing and follow-through of urgent patient needs, demonstrate courtesy and overt helpfulness in all interactions, collaborate with Practice Supervisor and Administrative Director in the resolution of patient complaints, assist in maintaining current filing and scanning.
Moderate Complex Administrative and Patient Care Coordination Responsibilities: Understand multiple clinical symptoms and their associated escalation level with a common-sense approach for when it is appropriate to escalate or take action to speed along a process within the practice or to obtain immediate clinical intervention, advanced customer service skills in working with and providing exceptional customer service to patients who are medication dependent and may exhibit challenging behaviors, understand how to deescalate a difficult encounter and also when to seek additional support from leadership and to protect the safety of the work environment.
Advanced Administrative and Patient Care Coordination Responsibilities: Act as liaison with Concierge Services, expedite requested services, coordinate complex patient care coordination activities, arrange appointments and testing, keep track of patients who have parallel pathways for their medical care and work with clinical providers to take steps at critical points along the continuum, create and maintain APeX patient lists or Excel Spreadsheets for tracking purposes, book Radiology appointments directly into Radiology scheduling software while ensuring accuracy of exam types, location specifications and insurance restrictions, identify referral problems, report out to management team with suggested solutions, develop and review reports related to referral management, tracking and updating management team with ongoing outgoing and incoming referral issues as they arise, oversight with maintaining Open Access schedules in order to meet the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) standards.
APeX and IT Specific Skills: Perform APEX specific Patient Care Coordinator (PCC) functions as appropriate to completion of APeX PCC training and job duties, enter new incoming referrals, enter authorization information as appropriate, update and close CRM messages and convert CRM messages into telephone encounters, open, document within, route and close telephone encounters, accurately utilize documentation steps when leaving a telephone encounter open pending further communications with the caller, utilize smart text logic to document patient phone screening as associated with complex appointment scheduling, work applicable APeX work queues to address patient care and service matters, create and send administrative communications via MyChart, create Smart Phrase templates associated with administrative functions, create and route patient letters associated with administrative matters, perform enter/edit outside test results following established workflow and steps, encourage use of the check in kiosk and troubleshoot technical or customer service issues.
Moderate Complex APeX and IT Specific Skills: Modify order class of labs from lab collection vs clinic collection or UCSF Collect vs External Collect, perform advanced appointment scheduling using complex scheduling protocols from a variety of ancillary and subspecialty services some of which will require authorization, support Patient-Centered Medical Home, Standard 1 guidelines that require patients have daily available appointment access to the practice and if no appointments are available coordinate them at another site or within Adult or Pediatric Urgent Care.
Phone Bank: Respond to telephone calls from patients seeking medical care at UCSF Medical Center, utilize the EPIC Appointment Scheduling System (Cadence) to schedule patient appointments in accordance with practice policy, document call information in the EPIC CRM in a concise, accurate manner, convert CRM messages to telephone encounters according to practice guidelines and workflows, respond to patient's online Web appointment requests for patients utilizing the online appointment system, utilize Phone Bank protocols to determine when to involve a clinician on a call due to urgent or emergent symptomatology.
General Performance: Pull and prepare charts prior to patient appointment following established practice criteria, file all patient related information, track incoming slides, films and reports as required by practice, return materials to referring physicians in a timely manner utilizing tracking systems, scan and import patient records and documents in APeX system following established guidelines and policies, uphold UCSF Medical Center policy regarding the maintenance and confidentiality of medical records and other patient information, maintain and adhere to patient confidentiality and HIPAA guidelines, participate in team building by actively contributing during meetings and with staff and providers in discussion of all practice activities, attend training classes provided by Medical Center, Billing Agent, and others as necessary, work with supervisor and co-workers to ensure that the practice responds comprehensively to patient care needs through improved procedures and administrative systems, be an active participant in performance improvement projects and customer service initiatives, comply with all Medical Center and Ambulatory Services procedures for infection control, safety, administrative and clinical practice, comply with activities mandated by Joint Commission, Title 22, fill in for other co-workers to help address work load problems and cover vacation or sick leave openings.
Moderate Complex General Performance: Maintain provider calendars, when working in a primary care practice, assist with the delivery and maintenance of a high standard of patient care using the Patient Centered Medical Home model, act as the coordinator for all of patient's needs such as forms, provide and team training for new hires and new initiatives and procedures.
Advanced General Performance: Facilitate Float coverage as needed for practice, serve on and contribute documentation to the Patient Centered Medical Home application workgroup.
Environmental Responsibilities: Report any malfunctioning of equipment, comply with recommendations made by ergonomic specialists to avoid workplace injury, comply with infection control policies related (e.g. does not eat at the front desk or in patient care areas).
Moderate Complex Environmental Responsibilities: Serve as practice deputy for life / safety activities, help lead drills.
Customer Service Outreach: Deal directly with patients either by telephone, electronically or face to face while consistently following EVERYDAY PRIDE principles in verbal and written communications, respond promptly and courteously to internal and external inquiries, stay logged into appropriate APeX Pools and In Baskets, handle front line patient complaints with the support of the Practice Supervisor / Administrative Director, support all performance improvement initiatives as outlined by the Medical Center leadership through active participation and initiation, obtain and evaluate all relevant information to handle inquiries and complaints, be a strong team player, have a dedicated work ethic, and be willing to learn and adapt to new tasks when asked, comfortable building rapport with patients quickly and be able to work effectively with and without supervision and remain calm and friendly in all interactions with patients, notify providers of patient delays and service issues, act and advocate for patients to help facilitate provider punctuality in seeing patients according to schedule, communicate provider delays with front office team and make regular announcements to waiting room as needed when delays are over 30 minutes, offer suggestions for change or improvement in clinic/practice operations, lead by example in the areas professional appearance, demeanor and body language, making eye contact with patients and internal customers, exhibit a friendly demeanor to put patients at ease, seek opportunities to improve patient convenience, utilize service recovery amenities as appropriate, contribute to the development of a patient focused environment.
Lead role duties: Address and resolve escalated issues of day to day operations, serve as a liaison to management to advise on, take lead action on, and provide direction on process improvements initiatives, act as a primary resource for one or more designated functions in the department, provide feedback related to staff performance, support staff through orientation, training and oversight, attend monthly organization meetings/trainings to enhance Super User role within the practice.