Access Associate, Sr

Offering a competitive sign on bonus to the hired candidate. Please discuss with the hiring manager or recruiter for more details

This experienced patient focused service representative engages patients, families and referring providers throughout the patient care continuum through various forms of communication. Responsible and accountable for complex patient scheduling including record retrieval, follow up communication and any related tasks to ensure the patient is seen by the right provider at the right time with the right records. Serves as the point of contact for patients, referring providers and Health System departments requesting single, multiple, and coordinated appointments to ensure an optimal patient experience. Actively participates on issues resolution and process improvement.

Team Members are expected to follow Standard Operating Procedures based on role within the Call Center or in Clinic setting. Depending on the team member assignment, all or some of the following responsibilities are included in job expectations.

• General Expectations:
  • Identifies opportunities for improvement and communicates appropriately before problems arise whenever possible.
  • Provides input on development, revision and implementation of work area procedures to ensure efficient operations and compliance with regulatory standards.
  • Constantly and consistently evaluates processes, identifies opportunities for improvement and offers constructive ideas and solutions; actively participates in solutions and implementation.
  • Maintains privacy during all interactions including check-in.
  • Independently answers telephones, schedules, confirms appointments and maintains appointment and procedure schedules.
  • Registers patients, takes payments and provides receipts.
  • Completes requests for service and associated tasks following established timelines.
  • Initiates contact with patient and family to ascertain scheduling preferences prior to finalizing appointment regardless of point of entry of the request.
  • Refers callers to appropriate individuals, and provides routine information following established procedures.
  • Ensure patient communications are customer oriented, appropriate and professional. Documents should be professional in appearance and current.
  • Requests and/or sends records to Health Information Management promptly. Ensure documents are appropriate and correctly labeled.
  • Abstracts appropriate health data into EMR
  • Takes ownership of resolving scheduling conflicts for patients and communicates with care team and management.
  • Utilizes electronic medical record functionality (e.g., InBasket, telephone encounters, prescription requests, pools, letters, and documentation only) per department process guidelines. Documentation should be should be complete and accurate.
  • Collaborates with appropriate Clinic Triad team (Medical Director, Access and Clinic Managers) to review requested schedule changes to ensure they meet clinic needs.
  • Creates patient no show and cancellation letters according to office policy. Calls to reschedule as appropriate.
  • Accurately completes daily attendance in the scheduling system to ensure high quality and reliable data capture
  • Achieves expected metric targets applicable to scheduling and registration
• Scheduling:
  • Responsible for scheduling multi-specialty and multi-disciplinary patient appointments in defined timeframe accurately and efficiently.
  • Understands the characteristics and complexity of the patient population and criteria for scheduling plan
  • Advocates for patients while coordinating support services as needed to ensure a smooth patient and family experience.
  • Investigates problems with complex scheduling cases, documents findings in complete and understandable manner.
  • Coordinates appointments and work with Pre Arrival Unit to ensure authorization in place for in and out of network entities including hospital systems, specialty clinics, equipment suppliers and pharmacies.
  • Obtains, load and verify required demographic and insurance information and loads or verifies for each appointment scheduled.
  • Performs verification functions. Obtains two patient identifiers consistently. Verifies patient legal name including spelling before creating a new MRN.
  • Maintain and demonstrate effective and accurate scheduling skills including following established processes.
  • Ensure referrals are attached to appointments, and the appropriate insurance information is documented. Research and update insurance carrier requirements as necessary. Correctly identify referring provider.
  • Liaison with health care team about complex patient scheduling needs.
• Registration, Check-In and Check-out:
  • Completes all registration elements, including the Medicare Secondary Payor Questionnaire (MSPQ), scanning of long-term signatures (LTS) and insurance cards, Advanced Beneficiary Notices (ABNs), waivers, and financial screenings are completed when indicated and promptly
  • Communicates to patients what payments are due at the time of service, explain the risk of ‘going out of network’ for services. Support patients and families by connecting them Financial Services Coordinators. Obtains waiver before service when an insurance referral has been denied
  • Prints medication lists and gives them to the patient/family for review during check-in
  • Promptly and accurately updates patient tracking system
  • Check out patients following their appointments , schedule follow-up and specialty appointments as appropriate,
  • Update, print, and provide an after-visit summary (AVS) to patients. Provides school/work excuses as appropriate.
• Customer Service & Patient Experience:
  • Serves as a role model for the ASPIRE values while maintaining and expanding patient relationships. Prioritizes tasks to meet customer needs.
  • Demonstrates exceptional customer service both for in-person and telephone activities.
  • Maintains a positive attitude when speaking with customers and internal and external service representatives.
  • Optimizes listening skills to address customer requests and needs.
  • Ensures communication with patient is in the patients preferred language
  • Describes individual role and accepts personal responsibility for how it affects and enhances the work of the group and impact to Patient Experience.
  • In addition to the above job responsibilities, other duties may be assigned.

Position Compensation Range: The pay range for this role is $17.31 - $26.83 hourly. Individual compensation will be determined by the selected candidate's qualifications, previous work experience, and/or education.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Education: High School Graduate or Equivalent required. Associates degree preferred.

Experience: 2 years relevant experience required. Access Associate fully cross-trained to cover multiple specialties will be considered in lieu of the 2 years relevant experience.

Licensure: None required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Job requires sitting for prolonged periods; Repetitive motion: (computer and mouse use). Proficient communicative skill across spoken, writing domains, adequate auditory and visual skills; Attention to detail and ability to write legibly and compose messages clearly and concisely.

The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment .