Supervisor, Patient Relations

VCU Health•Richmond, VA

1d•$21 - $33

About The Position

The Supervisor of Patient Relations oversees the daily operations of the Patient Relations program and process, including triaging patient and caregiver feedback such as inquiries, compliments, suggestions, complaints, and grievances. The role supervises, organizes, and coordinates daily operations, including situations requiring de-escalation, immediate investigation, or response. It collaborates with clinical and non-clinical teams, medical providers, and managers to review feedback, identify resolutions, develop action plans, and draft formal responses. Oversight covers adult inpatient, ambulatory, perioperative, and emergency services throughout VCU Health System. The supervisor leads the Patient Relations team and supports patient-experience process improvement, regulatory compliance, staff training and development, complaint resolution, trend reporting, and education outreach. The role also collaborates on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the health system.

Requirements

High school diploma.
At least four years of experience focused on patient or customer satisfaction, service recovery, and de-escalation of customer complaints.
Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through continuous development, modeling inclusive behaviors, and proactively managing bias.
Ability to collaborate effectively with interdisciplinary teams and find common ground among people with diverse perspectives.
Ability to de-escalate challenging situations and make decisions without complete information.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Health Care Administration, Counseling, Pastoral Care, Business Administration, Nursing, or another healthcare-related field from an accredited program.
Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP), or ability to obtain the certification within two years.
Familiarity with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Responsibilities

Oversee daily operations of the Patient Relations program and process, including triage of patient and caregiver feedback.
Lead patient-experience process improvement and behavioral coaching based on complaint volume and trends.
Use Root Cause Analysis techniques to identify underlying causes of trends and partner with affected areas on long-term resolutions.
Develop and implement best practices to reduce complaint volume and advance patient-centeredness.
Manage, document, and resolve patient complaints in a timely manner in accordance with CMS guidelines.
Serve as a subject matter expert during Joint Commission patient complaint investigations.
Maintain and update employee and patient incident report files.
Train and monitor new staff, ensure personnel are appropriately trained for assigned duties, and support continuity of operations and HR compliance.
Lead the Patient Relations team, including recruiting, selection, hiring, termination, training, professional development, mentoring, counseling, and performance evaluations.
Ensure accurate submission of time and leave requests and verify monthly payroll statements against submitted and approved time.
Provide the Patient Liaison team with ongoing training and guidance to support exemplary STAR Service for patients and families.
Triage, identify, and resolve patient and caregiver complaints and grievances within regulatory requirements and timeframes.
De-escalate highly emotional or challenging situations and act as the first escalation point for in-person or remote patient complaints.
Make decisions and act when complete information is not available.
Prepare monthly complaint trend and volume reports for department and organizational leadership.
Work collaboratively with interdisciplinary teams and build partnerships by applying knowledge of clinical workflows.
Develop and implement education outreach for internal clinical and non-clinical stakeholders on service recovery, CMS complaint and grievance guidelines, and internal complaint resolution processes.
Support diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives through collaboration and implementation across the health system.