Surgery Scheduler - Digestive Health

University of Virginia

4h•Onsite

About The Position

Under the direction of the manager or designee, the Surgery Scheduler supports the functions of the Scheduling Office by facilitating and producing the ORMIS Daily OR Schedule and its supporting documents in a timely and accurate fashion. This role involves accurately scheduling procedures in Epic systems (OpTime, Cupid, Radiant), scrubbing case orders for accuracy, reconciling laterality issues, and escalating problems to providers. The scheduler is responsible for ordering special grafts, managing the Snapboard for time/room requirements, providing case duration estimates, and adding information to additional databases like Jamitron. A key aspect is optimizing provider schedules by managing cancellations and rescheduling cases, including complex joint surgical cases, and recommending appropriate doctor preference cards and supply picklists. The position also entails scheduling various appointments, coordinating multi-specialty patient needs, and maintaining competence in scheduling and web applications. The scheduler handles insurance information, completes pre-registration tasks, and investigates patient concerns. Effective communication is vital for educating patients on pre-surgery requirements, communicating schedule changes, and managing provider calendars. The role also involves educating patients on managed care processes and financial obligations, providing high-level customer service to referring providers and patients, and assisting with operational patient flow and problem-solving. The scheduler must maintain current working knowledge of health system policies, medical terminology (ICD-10, CPT codes), and insurance practices, and contribute to the professional development of others through precepting and mentoring. Additionally, the role ensures full utilization of Physician OR time by identifying substitutes for cancelled cases and monitoring utilization.

Requirements

High School Graduate or equivalent required.
Internal Candidates: Demonstrated proficiency in the duties of the Access Associate Senior role.
External Candidates: 3 years’ experience in a clinical setting (hospital, surgery center or ambulatory clinic) in an administrative or clinical role required.

Nice To Haves

Associates Degree in a related field preferred.

Responsibilities

Locates order on the Depot and accurately schedules procedures in the proper Epic system such as OpTime, Cupid, or Radiant.
Scrubs case order for accuracy and completeness, ensuring diagnoses and procedure match and reviewing all OpTime case data for errors and omissions.
Reconciles laterality issues such as missing laterality and mismatches on laterality between diagnosis and procedure.
Escalates case orders and laterality issues back to ordering provider for any needed corrections.
Orders special grafts and tissues as needed through coordination with vendors and the clinical team.
Places and/or moves case on scheduler grid called the Snapboard to correspond with time/room requirements.
Provides case duration estimates, comparing historical averages with surgeon estimates and taking into account room turnover time and other factors.
Adds case information to additional databases such as Jamitron per departmental guidelines.
Ensures optimization of providers’ schedule by promptly moving patients up if there are cancellations.
Reschedules surgical cases/procedures as needed and informs necessary parties about changes to schedule.
Schedules complex joint surgical cases as needed.
Recommends the necessary/appropriate doctor preference cards and supply picklists for each case.
Schedules appointments to the correct provider including all appropriate information and coordinates appointments on the same day when available.
Uses advanced knowledge of Access tools and workflows to serve as an integral part of the care coordination team.
Responsible for utilizing decision based tools to facilitate securing the right appointment with the right medical provider or team.
Schedules Pre-Op and Post-Op appointments within correct time frames and coordinates/confirms with patient.
Maintains competence in use of scheduling and web applications.
Ensures appointments are made appropriately and correctly, including right patient, to right provider, right amount of time, right type of visit, right information, and using the right process.
Facilitates health care team discussions about complex patient scheduling needs and is responsible for scheduling multi-specialty patient appointments efficiently.
Takes ownership for resolving scheduling conflicts and communicates with management team and care providers to resolve scheduling issues.
Requests and/or sends records to Health Information Services in a timely manner.
Obtains required insurance information and loads or verifies for each appointment scheduled.
Accurately completes required tasks and fields in pre-registration.
Investigates referring provider or patient concerns when complaints are brought forward.
Educates patients on pre-surgery/procedure requirements and what to expect on the day of the surgery/procedure based on information provided by the clinical care team to increase understanding and alleviate anxiety.
Appropriately escalates clinical questions and refers patients to the Pre-Evaluation Testing Center (PETC) as needed.
Communicates vital changes to the surgical/procedural schedule such as Add-on Same Day Surgeries using appropriate communication pathways to all impacted parties including but not limited to the OR Scheduling Team.
Manages the provider calendar by capturing and communicating out of office dates and releasing OR time for use by another provider.
Accomplishes daily work with minimal direct supervision.
Sets work priorities to accomplish tasks/goals.
Handles confidential matters appropriately.
Demonstrates familiarity with current ICD-10 and CPT codes.
Communicates with department billing staff in a timely manner to ensure accurate pre-certification/authorization information is aligned with accurate billing of services.
Consistently demonstrates comprehension of insurance data, benefits, in/out of network issues, notification requirements, pre-determination services and medical diagnosis to ensure that all pre-authorizations are completed prior to the date of service.
Consistently demonstrates sound judgment about when to involve providers or other health care professionals in the pre-authorization or denial process.
Educates patients, parents, guardians and/or appropriate designee on managed care process and communicates authorizations if needed.
Reviews potential financial obligations when appropriate.
Communicates what payments are due at the time of service and explains the risks of ‘going out of network’ for services.
Informs patients about the authorization status as necessary.
Prepares patient financial liability estimates and takes payment as needed.
Demonstrates skill in the use of telephone technology.
Establishes initial contact with referring providers and referred patients by telephone.
Provides patients with an overview of the procedure process.
Manages more complex patient calls, using appropriate customer service skills.
Ensures patients complete pre-op requirements prior to date of surgery.
Establishes positive relationships with referring providers, referred patients, and referring provider office staff.
Assists with operational patient flow as applicable; performs problem-solving.
Advocates for patients by helping them navigate through the system.
Directs and assists patients, families, and staff in accessing appropriate resources.
Develops tools to assess patient referral processes with respect to efficiency and customer service.
Performs all other related tasks which would facilitate the flow of patients through the process, or which would enhance the quality of service to patients.
Implements practice/procedural changes accurately and in a timely manner.
Provides cross-coverage for registration and scheduling, as necessary.
Verifies patient demographic and additional identifying information appropriately.
Ensures required tasks and database information, not completed during intake, are accurately completed prior to forwarding case.
Exhibits a thorough working knowledge of scheduling and insurance practices.
Demonstrates an ability to work as a part of a collaborative team with considerable autonomy and with attention to detail.
Uses the Department Appointments Report (DAR) to ensure clinic operations run efficiently.
Verifies providers’ orders are present, accurate and complete by applying knowledge of medical terminology, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-CM) to classify patient sickness and disease and the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) for describing medical, surgical and diagnostic services.
Fosters the education and development of others through precepting new employees and role modeling behavior.
Maintains a positive environment conducive to education of coworkers through precepting, mentoring, teaching, orienting, role modeling and team participation.
Completes annual mandatory training activities within established timeframes.
Ensures Physician OR time is fully utilized.
When OR cases are cancelled, review open cases to identify appropriate substitute.
Ensure patients have been cleared for surgery and willing to change surgery date.
Ensure authorizations are in place.
Monitor utilization and determine appropriate timing to release physician clock time, then look for Division and Department opportunities to fill slots.
Performs other duties as assigned.