Address
SalaryKKM Veterinary Clinic - Franklin, OH 45005
Do animals bring you joy? Do you like helping people and making a difference? Are you interested in career that allows you to both enjoy furry patients and helping people take the best care of them that they can? Are you looking for an environment where everyone works hard, supports each other and have fun at the same time? If the answer is yes to these questions, come join our team.
Please read below for a detailed description of what a Veterinary Receptionist does at our clinic.
JOB DESCRIPTION Veterinary Receptionist
SUMMARY Responsible for the smooth, accurate, cheerful, well-planned, and orderly flow of clients and patients by greeting clients, differentiating routine cases from emergency cases, facilitating communication with professional staff, scheduling appointments, entering client, patient, and financial data into the computer, generating invoices and explaining them to clients, processing payments, and managing the retrieval and storage of medical records.
- ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The essential duties and responsibilities of this job include the following. These are the duties that define this job and are required to be performed by the incumbent. Other essential duties may be assigned.
- Client Interaction Tasks
- Cordially greet arriving clients and patients. While handling phone calls, acknowledge the arrival of people in the reception area with eye contact and/or a hand wave. Use clients’ and patients’ names during conversations.
- Review consent forms with clients and have clients sign forms.
- Advise clients of special call-in times to check on patients or speak with doctors.
- Using reminder/recall-system, and outpatient-visit and patient-admission protocols, advise clients of recommended services for their pets.
- Schedule appointments for exams, rechecks, surgeries, medical procedures, euthanasias, boarding, and grooming to maximize the comfort and convenience of clients and patients while allowing the Clinic to run efficiently.
- Call clients scheduled for the next day to remind them of their appointments, appointment times, and special instructions, such as the need for fasting or withholding or administering medications.
- Call clients who missed appointments and reschedule their appointments.
- Explain special programs offered by the Clinic.
- Advise clients of significant changes in policies or services since their last visit.
- Provide clients with accurate and thorough information about all over-the-counter products. Refer product questions you are unable to fully or accurately answer to doctors or technicians.
- Give estimates and basic pricing information for grouped surgical procedures or basic wellness services to clients and callers in a manner that encourages potential clients to visit the Clinic.
- Provide clients with handouts and brochures regarding relevant medical conditions, surgeries, immunizations, parasites, pet insurance, and diets.
- Answer routine questions or refer callers to the appropriate colleagues.
- Receive and record prescription refill requests.
- Explain delays to clients. Ensure the comfort of clients and patients during their waits. Reschedule appointments as needed.
- Assist clients with unruly or unrestrained pets. Ensure that all dogs are leashed and that cats and smaller pets are caged or otherwise secured. Utilize Fear Free tools available to help with nervous or anxious pets.
- Monitor patients’ behaviors and note potentially aggressive behaviors. Use caution when handling aggressive or potentially aggressive pets. Isolate aggressive pets. Request assistance as needed.
- Offer water to clients or patients in need (or withhold water from patients as appropriate.)
- Handle angry clients in a calm, reassuring manner. Escort complaining or angry clients from the reception area to a separate, closed room where their complaints may be heard privately. When necessary, enlist a doctor or the Practice Manager to resolve the complaint.
- Handle grieving clients in a calm, reassuring manner. Provide basic grief counseling for clients in need.
- Provide clients with information regarding options available for the remains of deceased pets.
- Assist clients to their cars if necessary.
- Dispense non-prescription medications and diets to clients. Discuss dosing and administration instructions to ensure that clients understand the use of dispensed products. Advise clients of common side effects of dispensed medications as instructed by doctors or technicians.
- Assign and dispense rabies tags.
- Discharge hospitalized patients and boarded and groomed pets (when boarding staff or technicians are unavailable). Review discharge instructions and medications with clients. Discuss any problems noted in the record. For hospitalized patients, schedule medical progress/ recheck appointments and follow-up call backs.
- Follow isolation procedures when greeting clients with contagious or potentially contagious patients. Disinfect your shoes, hands, and clothing before leaving isolation areas.
- Monitor and review online appointment requests, emails, website leads and schedule or provide answers if able to, utilize other staff if needed for accurate correspondence.
- Clerical Responsibilities
- Manage multiple phone lines effectively. Prioritize phone calls.
- Retrieve messages from the voice mail and log and distribute messages appropriately.
- Accurately record messages for doctors and staff. Notify recipients of urgent messages immediately.
- Repair malfunctioning office equipment or bring the malfunction to the Practice Manager’s attention.
- Maintain a file of lost and found pets.
- Label and mail monthly service reminders in a timely fashion.
- Reorganize daily appointment schedules as needed to account for emergency situations and time overruns.
- Send correspondence, including thank you notes, condolence cards, and welcome cards.
- Have available hard copies of forms for incoming clients whose pets will have anesthetic, surgical, dental, or medical procedures.
- Help clients with wellness plans – start up, maintaining and monitoring, as needed. Calculate out services received, when client needs to cancel for rehoming or deceased pets.
- Sends monthly client statements, when needed.
- Create clear follow up tasks for technicians or doctors that are easily understood and accurate for client’s needs.
- Generate daily deposit slip and balance drawer to software.
- Process mail.
- Medical Record Management and Computer Responsibilities
- Add new clients and new patients into the computer system.
- Inactivates clients or patients in computer system as appropriate.
- Inserts notes regarding important communications with clients in computerized or hard copy medical records.
- Inquires about and record/update vital changes in client or patient information, including weight, immunization status, microchip number, spay/neuter status, and medical records.
- Input reminders and callbacks.
- Pull charts for incoming patients and clients.
- Upon the client’s arrival, mark the patient’s medical record with the date and a brief synopsis of the reasons for the visit.
- Check for and enter phone, and address updates in clients’ records.
- Check for and enter medical updates (spay/neuter status, immunization status, microchip number) in patient’s medical record.
- For patients that are being admitted, attach cage cards and completed client-consent or other forms to the medical record.
- Properly use bins or slots assigned to doctors, staff, pharmacy, lab, and callbacks.
- Ensure that medical charts or records to be filed are complete and that they include current laboratory test results, doctors’ notes, and forms. Ensure that records have been updated to reflect financial transactions, medications and products dispensed, weights, immunizations, diagnoses, and treatments.
- Understand and properly use special record notations, including male, female, aggressive, caution, and inactive.
- Accurately file all paper medical records.
- Check for misfiled records and file them properly.
- Enter proper doctor identifications to attribute work performed by various doctors to their production records.
- Print appointment, drop off, and surgery schedules for each day.
- Use practice management software to check in clients and patients.
- Generate records of rabies immunizations for clients and town, city, and county officials.
- Produce immunization, health, and neuter certificates, as needed for clients.
- Financial Responsibilities
- Ensure that the cash drawer has sufficient change for each day’s monetary transactions. Change money as necessary.
- Count and record the cash in the drawer each morning and at shift changes. Count and record the cash in the drawer at closing. Reduce the drawer to the starting amount of cash.
- Prepare daily bank deposits. Deliver deposits to the bank on a daily basis.
- Balance the daily revenue records against check deposits and credit and cash receipts. Check math for accuracy. Match each day’s monetary intake (cash, checks, and credit card slips) with the computerized day summary sheet.
- Correctly apply discounts for wellness plans.
- Enter charges from worksheets or patient records into the computer. Enter all inventory codes for foods, supplies, and medicines for invoicing and inventory control.
- Process clients’ cash, credit card, debit card, and check payments.
- Accurately record all payments in client/patient records in the computer system.
- Give accurate change.
- Ensure that checks have proper identifying information recorded on them (identity or drivers’ license number) and that checks are dated and signed.
- Check that clients’ signatures on credit receipts match those on credit cards or their photo identification.
- Produce legible and accurate receipts. Provide clients with printed receipts of their transactions.
- Review itemized entries on receipts with clients at the time of payment.
- Answer clients’ questions regarding charges or refer questions to the appropriate colleague.
- Hear and record complaints concerning billing or service rendered, referring complaints of service failures to designated departments for investigation.
- Complete or file pet health insurance claims on behalf of clients as directed by the Practice Manager or doctors.
- Process and help clients complete CareCredit applications.
- Record and file payment plans.
- Issue updated invoices to clients, including appropriate finance charges, and show accurate balances due on their accounts.
- Process care credit transactions accurately.
- Doctor/Technician Support Responsibilities
- Notify patient care staff of client/patient arrival.
- Alert doctors and technicians to emergency situations. Seek the assistance of doctors or technicians immediately when assessing potentially critical patients.
- Verify and obtain approval from a veterinarian prior to dispensing medication to a client.
- Prepare non-prescription medications for dispensing as directed by the doctor.
- Record in-house prescription and pharmacy prescription requests accurately.
- Ensure that doctors, technicians, and assistants enter occupied exam rooms within reasonable time periods.
- Obtain current RTG codes prior to checking out clients.
- Environmental Responsibilities
- Keep reception area clean and organized by dusting, picking up trash, and organizing the work area. Clean glass doors and windows daily or more often as needed.
- Vacuum or sweep the reception area and waiting room as needed to keep these areas clean and free of hair.
- Clean urinary and fecal accidents in the waiting room immediately. Check with doctors or technicians to see if they need samples for diagnostics before discarding them.
- Maintain a current and attractive selection of reading material in the reception area.
- Check public restroom(s) and clean them as needed. Restock toilet paper, paper towels, and hand soap as needed.
- Keep the entrance and sidewalks clean, safe, and presentable.
- Turn on the radio or sound system at the beginning of the day, and turn it off at the end of the day.
- Water and maintain plants.
- Supplies Management Responsibilities
- Establish and/or maintain a list of depleted office supplies, handouts, and medical-record supplies.
- Restock office supplies and products in the retail areas.
- Keep forms, brochures, and handouts neatly stocked and readily available to share with clients.
- Assist with drug, food, and supply inventory management by following inventory management protocols and notifying Inventory Manager of low stock.
II. OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Other duties that are or may be assigned to this job.
- Upholding and supporting the Company vision and mission.
- Modeling and reinforcing the Company Rules and Guidelines.
- All other duties as assigned.
III. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
Has no overall responsibility for day-to-day supervision, but does train receptionists in the basic skills of the position and the Clinic’s policies and procedures.
IV. QUALIFICATIONS
In order to qualify for this job, the incumbent must possess the following qualifications or be able to secure them within 90 days.
A. EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE
This job requires this education and/or experience background. Other desirable or preferred education and/or experience may be listed.
- A high school diploma or GED is required.
- Some experience as a cashier and/or receptionist/secretary is preferred.
- Veterinary medical knowledge is preferred.
B. COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE SKILLS
The incumbent is required to have the following communication and language skills to perform this job satisfactorily. Desirable or preferred communication skills may also be listed.
- Ability to read, write and speak English.
- Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical manuals and journals, and laws and regulations as they apply to quality, process improvement, customer service, and any areas relevant to this position’s areas of responsibility.
- Ability to respond, both orally and in writing to common inquiries or complaints from customers, or employees in a sensitive and effective manner.
- Ability to draft reports and business correspondence.
- Must have well-developed oral and written communication skills including the ability to communicate orally with people of varying education and communication skills.
- COMPUTER SKILLS
1. Ability to use the following software packages proficiently
- Word.
- Excel.
- Avimark, Pet Desk, Yahoo email or other current veterinary practice software.
2. Ability to use 10-key calculator proficiently.
- MATHEMATICAL SKILLS
The following mathematical skills are needed for this job.
- Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fundamentals of basic algebra.
- Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations such as calculating weights, volumes, days between dates, hours between times.
- Ability to use basic mathematical formulas.
E. REASONING ABILITY
This job needs the following level of reasoning ability to carry out the essential functions.
- Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid and logical conclusions,
- Ability to deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
- Ability to effectively multi-task and problem solve in a fast paced environment.
- Ability to prioritize and re-prioritize activities to effectively handle varying work load.
V. CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS
This job requires the following certification, license, or registration. Desired certificates, licenses, or registrations may also be listed, but are not required.
- None
VI. PHYSICAL DEMANDS
This job requires the following physical demands on a regular basis.
- Up to 100% of the time the incumbent will be sitting.
- Up to 100% of the time is spent walking or standing.
- Up to 100% of the time is spent talking and/or listening.
- The incumbent will frequently need to lift and carry materials, such as surgical or medical equipment/materials, or animal food, weighing up to 50 pounds.
- The incumbent may occasionally need to lift and carry patients weighing up to 40 pounds and assist in lifting patients weighing more than 50 pounds.
- Vision requirement include close vision at 20 inches or less, intermediate vision for computer screens, distance vision at 20 feet or more, and depth perceptions to judge spatial relationships.
VII. WORK ENVIRONMENT
The typical work environment includes the following but may vary from time to time or change completely due to remodeling, relocation, or restructuring.
- Most work is performed in a typical medical office setting that is usually well lit and temperature controlled with moderate to high noise level generated by patients, surgical equipment, computers, printers, fax machines, telephones, human traffic and conversation.
- Work may expose incumbent to violent/upset/afraid people or patients
- This environment may vary from time to time or change completely due to remodeling, relocation, restructuring, a power outage, or other disastrous destruction of usual work locations.
Note: Any or all of these duties may be modified, changed, or deleted, or new duties may be assigned, or the incumbent might be required to perform other duties either temporarily or permanently at any time with or without notice.
