GPS Patient Relations Specialist

SHIFT:

Day (United States of America)

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A Brief Overview

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Global Patient Services (GPS) Patient Relations Specialist (PRS) collaborates regularly across multiple specialty services and departments at CHOP while serving international patients. The PRS supports international care coordination and works with Global Patient Services staff for ongoing management of international patients. The GPS Patient Relations Specialist provides superior customer service while working to enhance the patient family experience of our international patient population.

The GPS Patient Relations Specialist supports new families who are traveling to CHOP by facilitating the delivery of excellent and timely pediatric health services for international patients and families. The PRS answers all of their questions, assists in processing immigration applications, visas, and visa extensions and facilitates the family's orientation to CHOP which includes providing and reviewing language appropriate welcome manuals, hosting a tour of the CHOP facility and introducing families to the Global Patient Services office/staff/resources. The PRS maintains effective communication with families throughout their stay and treatment at CHOP.

S/He may also serve as a resource for cultural education to the CHOP community in certain assigned situations.

The GPS Patient Relations Specialist works in collaboration with the GPS team, GPS Leadership Team, Language Services Team and Hospitality Team to ensure all aspects of the patients/families' visit are coordinated and convenient.

What you will do

• As a patient relations specialist, provides coordination of services and supports international patients and family receiving care at CHOP through the following activities:
• Serves as a resource person for physicians, allied health staff and other professionals throughout CHOP system when questions arise regarding International patient access information.
• Acts as a liaison between family, physician, and office personnel to ensure a coordinated course of care for our International families.
• Builds positive and productive relationships across the organization that will ensure exceptional patient services
• Build positive and productive relationships with internal and external constituents, including Embassy contacts in Washington, DC, that will ensure exceptional patient services.
• Provides Hospital Tours and presentation of GPS services to Embassy and special VIP guest visitors.
• Coordinates and supports setting up special events (such as Ramadan, Eid, and embassy visits)
• Ensures that all families are welcomed to CHOP and greeted in GPS Clinic by PRS team
• Facilitates communication between family and GPS clinic team during patient triage process and ensure that all new referral inquiries to clinic are facilitated efficiently
• Works closely with GPS clinical nurse coordinator and access coordinator to ensure smooth and efficient care of all International patients and families
• Supports the case management teams by uploading new records and images families bring to clinic
• Works with Global Medicine Operations Counselor to confirm financial clearance before appointments are scheduled in GPS clinic.
• Works closely with GPS clinic team to support families who need triage and clinic appointments
• Enters patient communication into Epic chart for continuity of care.
• Completes MERS screening for all newly arrived patients.

Uploads Images and medical Records to media on EPIC

• Aids resolve any issues or problems with compassion and integrity.
• Ensures that all issues and concerns are addressed in real time
• Available on an on call basis for emergencies including the acute change in a patient status, death of a child, and the off hours arrival of new families directly admitted into the hospital
• Communicates with embassies and funeral home to arrange safe and smooth transportation to home country in the case of end-of-life situation.
• Travels to airport (JFK, PHL Dulles) in ambulance with CHOP Transport team to greet Direct Admissions, welcome families, and assist with customs and luggage
• Serves as an interpreter in the event of the absence of an interpreter, and may interpret for emergency situations and ED visits until another interpreter can be secured.
• Assures extreme confidentiality 100% of the time.
• Coordinates Welcome Orientation for all new International patients:
• Ensures all patients receive an introduction and a tour to the hospital

Provides families with a GPS orientation binder and reviews its content to help families understand the CHOP system, how to access our office, plans for emergent situations- use of ED and After-Hour Program.

• Collects passports and help families with consent forms and embassy forms
• Communicates to families the ability to have access to care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week given the high medical complexity of international patients
• Assists families to obtain cell phone and local phone number and to open local bank account.
• Guides families through a hospital tour and locate all facilities that will be essential during their stay including the ED, outpatient clinics, outpatient registration and the arrival site for the OR suite
• Introduces the GPS office and how to contact and communication with multilingual staff, to assure all family and patient needs are met.
• Educates families how to access the After Hours Program in case of emergencies, including teaching families how to know their MRN number, the name of their physician, and the phone system for after hours.
• Schedules Interpreter Services for International families as needed
• Schedules airport transportation as needed
• Completes second orientation 1 week later to ensure that a new family is comfortable and their stay at CHOP is going smoothly
• Collaborates with other departments within the hospital regarding Global Patient Services Patients:
• Works collaboratively and rounds weekly with Environmental Services team to ensure that international patient needs are being met on the inpatient units
• Works collaboratively with Language Services to assist families with scheduling an interpreter when needed
• Facilitates communication with Hospitality team regarding transportation and lodging requests for discharged patients
• Works closely with Health Information Management, PCAM Radiation, Radiology, Cardiology, Neurology, and the pathology lab to request and collect all the medical records for discharged patients when care at CHOP is complete
• Works closely with the pathology Lab to process and collect pathology slides
• Works closely with OR/MRI and Sedation teams when international patients are scheduled for procedures
• Partners with GPS social worker and escalates issues that require social work intervention
• Ensures that all inpatients are visited and supported twice weekly or as needed
• Works with CHOP pharmacy to facilitate the registration and scheduling of parents and siblings during the flu season to get immunized.
• Additional administrative duties:
• Data Integrity and accuracy of Salesforce Data and Epic demographic information
• Assists family finding their ways to Cashier's office for payment of services when needed
• Contact families with appointment reminders and NPO instructions daily
• Provides information regarding US immigrations and customs and Visa application procedures
• Assists families with filling out stay renewal application/I-94/USCIS calls
• Helps families with the handicap placard applications
• Conducts Patient Family Surveys to all international patients to ensure delivery of excellent service and to address opportunities for service recovery in real time
• Orders office supplies
• Creates the monthly on-call templates and schedule and shares it with the team
• Professional Development:
• Participates in activities and organizations to maintain knowledge of current trends, practices and developments.
• Utilize every opportunity to explore ways to provide professional development

Education Qualifications

• High School Diploma / GED - Required
• Bachelor's Degree - Preferred

Experience Qualifications

• At least three (3) years customer service, hotel, health care, language services for children and/or families - Required
• Customer service background in a healthcare setting - Preferred
• Salesforce, Excel or Epic electronic health record - Preferred
• International life experience and experience serving an international clientele in a work environment - Preferred

Skills and Abilities

• International life experience and experience serving an international clientele in a work environment. (Required proficiency)
• Strong Linguistic Skills:
• Fluency in secondary language is required (Required proficiency)
• Fluency in Arabic is required (Required proficiency)
• Understands variety of regional accents and linguistic styles (Required proficiency)
• Selects appropriate mode of interpretation for each situation (Required proficiency)
• Interprets with highest degree of accuracy and completeness (Required proficiency)
• Self-corrects, understands own linguistic limitations, seeks clarification and accepts correction (Required proficiency)
• Picks up cues from encounter participants regarding level of understanding and/or need for clarification (Required proficiency)
• Strong writing skills and understanding of translation process (Required proficiency)
• Strong Cultural awareness competencies: (Required proficiency)
• Understands language as an expression of culture, recognizes the underlying assumptions of each party about medicine, the encounter, the illness, etc.; uses this understanding to empower the patients and provider to better understand each other (Required proficiency)
• Avoids generalizations and stereotyping (Required proficiency)
• Uses culturally appropriate behavior and is able to choose appropriate time to clarify and interject by respecting the goals of the encounter (Required proficiency)
• Is aware of own personal values, beliefs, and cultural characteristics which may be a source of conflict or discomfort in certain situations, is able to acknowledge these and/or withdraw from encounters when these may interfere with successful interpretation (Required proficiency)
• Strong interpreting skills:
• Explains the role of the interpreter to patient and provider (Required proficiency)
• Recognizes the complexity of the clinical encounter and added factor of linguistic barrier (Required proficiency)
• Sets tone of the patient/provider encounter to manage spatial configuration and flow of communication to preserve accuracy and completeness, and to assess and address potential areas of discomfort for patient (age, gender of interpreter, no previous experience with interpreters) (Required proficiency)
• Encourages and fosters direct communication between provider and patient (Required proficiency)
• Maintains professional distance and integrity (Required proficiency)
• Diffuses conflict between parties by remaining calm and impartial (Required proficiency)
• Clarifies instructions, follow up steps in a diplomatic, effective manner (Required proficiency)
• Additional requirements:
• Ability to deal effectively with the parents, physicians and all levels of Hospital and Embassy personnel. (Required proficiency)