Patient Service Representative

SUMMARY

Under the direct supervision of the Department Manager, Patient Service Representative will answer phones, schedule appointments and relay accurate information to appropriate care teams.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Answer all incoming calls with the standard greeting.
• Display exceptional customer service skills and assist the patient to the best of your ability.
• Agent’s primary responsibility is to be logged into the phone system at all times, focusing on meeting organizational goals and Service Level Agreements.
• Ability to accurately document messages and route to the appropriate care team in real-time.
• General knowledge of the organization and departments to ensure proper routing of messages.
• Ability to follow policies and procedures to ensure all urgent calls are handled and passed off appropriately.
• Ability to follow detailed guidelines and appropriately schedule patients with providers and resources.
• Skilled in multitasking and ability to prioritize urgent needs.
• Possess strong active listening skills.
• Monitor Inbasket messages and emails.
• Build positive relationships by going above and beyond with customer service, ensuring that all questions, cancellations, and confirmations are handled appropriately
• Identify opportunities to assist patients in various parts of their healthcare needs.
• Ability to attempt conflict resolution and determine when it’s appropriate to escalate.
• General understanding of payers that Montage Medical Group is credentialed with and appointment types that patients may be eligible for.
• Assist Physicians and Medical Assistants as needed.
• Perform rescheduling and schedule management as assigned by practice manager or supervisor.
• Displays effective communication skills with vulnerable patient populations. Vulnerable populations are patients who are made vulnerable due to their:
  1. Financial circumstances
  2. Place of residence
  3. Health
  4. Age
  5. Personal characteristics
  6. Functional or developmental status
  7. Ability to communicate effectively
  8. Presence of chronic illness or disability
• Adheres to team-based approach in patient care.
• Adheres to patient-centered medical home policies and procedures in conjunction with NCQA guidelines.
• Attends mandatory staff meetings and huddles.

MONTAGE VALUES

Employees of Montage Medical Group are expected to uphold the Montage Values and Service Standards. Montage Medical Group employees find joy in caring for those we service, are dedicated to coordinating care across all settings, take ownership, collaborate to deliver the highest quality care and are entrusted to serve our community with respect.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

High school diploma or general education degree (“GED”); and at least three months (preferably six months) related experience (e.g., health care setting, customer service, etc.) and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Experience with medical terminology (e.g., CPT and ICD9 codes) and understanding of medical insurance process preferred and extremely helpful. Must understand or quickly learn about the differences between and among self-pay patients, insurance patients, Medicare patients, TriCare patients, workers’ compensation patients, and occupational medicine patients.

Must respond courteously, sympathetically and maturely to patient needs. Must be neat and professional in appearance. Detail oriented and well organized. Computer literate (i.e., be familiar with a PC and basic software, such as Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, etc.) Bilingual may be required. Must be able to work under pressure and in stressful situations and must be able to work quickly when business conditions warrant.

PATIENT SERVICE, ATTITUDE AND LANGUAGE SKILLS

Must have superior Patient Service attitude and skills. One of Montage Medical Group’s core values is we are a “Patient-Centered” practice. High patient satisfaction and whole-person care are of critical importance and all employees must strive to achieve 100% patient satisfaction and quality outcomes for all patients. All communications to co-workers, patients and vendors must be courteous (e.g., “Mr. Smith, the Medical Assistant will show you to one of the exam rooms now.”) Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine messages, e-mail messages, reports and correspondence, using proper grammar and spelling. Ability to speak effectively with patients and co-workers. Must maintain strict patient confidentiality, adhering to all HIPAA guidelines and regulations.

THE EMPLOYEE MUST RESPECT, UNDERSTAND AND OBSERVE THE IMPORTANCE OF PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY.

MATHEMATICAL, FINANCIAL SKILLS AND COMPUTER SKILLS

Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to handle cash transactions and “reconcile” cash drawer balances with computer system reports.

Ability to effectively and efficiently use a computer and related business and medical software. Ability to use typical business equipment, such as fax machine, photocopier, adding machine, business telephone, voicemail, e-mail. The employee must be able to master the NextGen physician practice management computer system for purposes of patient registration, scheduling, payment entry and certain other tasks. Errors must be kept to a minimum (e.g., management occasionally runs error-checking reports, and receptionists may not erroneously miss entering patient social security numbers on more than 5% of the accounts that they register). Type 30+ WPM.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.