Practice Coordinator 2

Job Summary

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 2 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. They/Them 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 2 is responsible for the maintenance of all routine clerical operations and communications. They/Them adheres to the UCSF House and Telephone Standards and is sensitive to the needs of patients, staff and providers at all times. The PA 2 is a team player who works closely with others and who is flexible in dealing with the changing priorities. They/Them is a self-reliant individual who synthesizes their knowledge of practice operations in order to problem-solve, prioritize and facilitate complex transactions in the course of their 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 PC2 is required to work at any UCSF campus as needed and scheduled.

New Patient Scheduling and Processing 15 %

• On a daily basis reviews and works referral workqueues documenting activities within the referral record.
• Acts as the primary contact for referring physicians and new patients
• If practice utilizes a mirror system for external referrals, such as an electronic log, maintains electronic log but also creates referral record for accurate tracking and documenting of external referrals.
• Assigns new patients to providers as required, taking into account scheduling issues.
• Schedules and registers patients by telephone or in person before first appointment meeting established accuracy and performance standards. Completes appropriate practice intake paperwork and follows established practice guidelines to ensure new patients are seen within prescribed time lines. Communicates any problems with the schedule with supervisor.
• Collects and verifies insurance and referral/authorization information for first appointment ensuring referral records and Hospital Accounts Records (HARS) are created and assigned to the appointment.
• Schedules and coordinates any pre-appointment tests or appointments.
• Explains first appointment procedures in layman’s terminology to patient including required records, pathology slides and radiology films to bring or send prior to the first visit; prepares and mails New Patient Packet or sends through MyChart; provides other information requested by patient.
• Gives directions and instructions to patients before the first appointment. Manages patient expectations by providing practice-specific guidelines related to service/visit. Seeks clinical input when appropriate.
• Creates a professional and positive first impression for patients and referring physicians. Demonstrates good judgment and common sense.

Surgery Scheduling 10 %

• Coordinates scheduling of all outpatient and inpatient surgeries for the surgical practice. Ensures that all surgical procedures are scheduled within a clinically appropriate time frame. Interfaces with patients, physicians and hospital staff to ensure adequate communication regarding all aspects of surgical services.
• Interacts with clinical and academic staff to coordinate surgical activities with physician’s other responsibilities. Processes complex hospital admission forms, schedules pre-surgical tests and appointments, and secures all necessary resources and equipment for surgery.
• Works with patients and staff to confirm availability and accuracy of medical information within APeX and to ensure compliance with all hospital policies and procedures.
• Secures authorization for surgical procedures and coordinates with Hospital Admissions Department as needed.

Revenue Cycle 5 %

• Performs cash collection and depositing functions as assigned, complying with all established policies and procedures.
• Communicates Medical Center administrative and financial policies clearly to patients, answering patient account questions and knowing when to refer patients to financial counseling, billing agents, patient relations or other support departments for additional help.
• Obtains and documents insurance authorizations for established patient visits, referrals and procedures or ancillary services. Communicates clinical information from medical records authorization requests to insurance companies.
• Demonstrates competency working with CPT codes and ICD-9 and ICD-10 for the purpose of scheduling and securing authorization.
• Monitors provider(s) open charts and encounters and works with providers to complete encounter documentation in a timely manner to support revenue cycle workflow. May assist provider with instructions on how to close encounters opened in error.
• Works RFI workqueues to secure information for accurate billing submissions or to respond to denials such as retro authorizations, clinical documentation, and addended authorizations with add on CPT codes.
• Secures authorization for procedures, specialty visits and ancillary testing and coordinates with Hospital Admissions Department as needed.

Moderate Complex Revenue Cycle _______ %

Check in / Front Desk 15 %

• Greets and welcomes patients making eye contact and utilizing AIDET standards.
• Determines a patient’s co-pay obligation and collects it at the time of the visit; may also collect payments on patient accounts.
• Gives priority to the timely registration of patients on check-in and is aware of the necessity of maintaining practice flow, paying careful attention to the performance improvement initiatives to reduce delays.
• Communicates with patients in a confidential professional manner using tact and diplomacy.
• Monitors and maintains the reception area, making sure it is tidy and there is adequate availability of reading and educational materials. Ensures that the temperature of the reception area is comfortable and that there is adequate and appropriate seating for all patients.
• Observes the waiting area and performs customer service intervention when patients have been waiting a long time or are not receiving adequate service
• Assists patients with use of Kiosk and actively works to promote Kiosk utilization

Cadence Template Builder _________%

• Able to create Cadence schedule templates for providers
• Understands how template construction effects access and works to ensure templates are user friendly and help promote consistent clinic access.
• Able to generate reschedule reports in Cadence and work with other members of administrative team to ensure patients are rescheduled in a timely manner to avoid customer service problems.

Administrative and Patient Care Coordination Responsibilities 15 %

• Schedules established patient appointments using Apex and its related components.
• Understands the distinction of each medical practice and how care is delivered in each setting.
• Coordinates appointments with multiple providers as required.
• Discusses practice policies and procedures with patients and referring physicians.
• Answers questions about provider schedules and acts as a resource to other medical center practices and ancillary service administrative staff.
• Has a keen awareness of the need to provide prompt and convenient appointment access to patients.
• Adheres to the provider productivity standards as established in APEX templates for the practice and schedules appointments with the appropriate appointment type.
• Screens all telephone calls, screening for emergencies and routing all messages, requests for same day appointments, refill requests, etc. to the appropriate box.
• Utilizes legacy systems and Apex to retrieve pertinent patient data.
• Follows practice procedure for follow-up of missed appointments.
• Covers Apex in-baskets and phone messages when other members of the team are absent.
• Demonstrates an ability to adjust priorities as required for smooth operation of the practice and notifies the clinical staff.
• Provides administrative support to providers in coordination of patient care (i.e. sending patient letters, educational materials, results of lab tests, etc.)
• Schedules procedures and tests providing appropriate instructions to patients.
• Collaborates with clinical staff in problem-solving patient needs and requests for same day appointments and other appointments requiring care coordination. Works together with the clinical staff in the processing and follow-through of urgent patient needs.
• Demonstrates courtesy and overt helpfulness in all interactions. Collaborates with Practice Supervisor and Administrative Director in the resolution of patient complaints.
• Assists in maintaining current filing and scanning.
• Must have an understanding of 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. This includes understanding how to deescalate a difficult encounter and also when to seek additional support from leadership and to protect the safety of the work environment.

Moderate Complex Administrative and Patient Care Coordination Responsibilities _______ %

APeX and IT Specific Skills 5 %

• Performs the following APEX specific Patient Care Coordinator (PCC) functions as appropriate to completion of APeX PCC training and job duties:
• Enter new incoming referrals entering authorization information as appropriate
• Updating and closing CRM messages and converting CRM messages into telephone encounters if practice is serviced by the Ambulatory Services Call Center
• Open, document within, route and close telephone encounters. Able to accurately utilize documentation steps when leaving a telephone encounter open pending further communications with the caller
• Works applicable APeX workqueues to address patient care and service matters
• Create and send administrative communications via MyChart
• Create SmartPhrase templates associated with administrative functions
• Create and route patient letters associated with administrative matters
• Open, document within, route and close telephone encounters. Able to accurately utilize documentation steps with leaving a telephone encounter open pending further communications with the caller. Able to utilize smart text logic to document patient phone screening as associated with complex appointment scheduling.
• Encourage use of the check in kiosk and trouble shoot 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.