Patient Care Coordinator - Akahi Associates, LLC

Position title: Patient Care Coordinator

Salary: $19.00/hour - $39.00/hour (depending on years of experience)

Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8 am - 5 pm, no work on Holidays, teleworking elegible 

Benefits: 80 hours PTO, 40 hours sick leave, 11 government holidays, 401(K), medical, dental, vision

Facility: NIAID - Bethesda, MD

Overall Position Summary and Objectives: The purpose of this position is to provide administrative support to research teams and participants enrolled in a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases protocol. The Patient Care Coordinator (PCC) will be responsible for all scheduling activities, including arranging appointments, travel and entering remuneration into appropriate systems. The PCC will need to communicate effectively with participants and teams related to scheduled activities, follow-up and the logistics of each appointment. 

Field of Study: 

• Miscellaneous Biology
• Communications
• General Business
• Miscellaneous Business Medical Administration
• General Medical and Health Services
• Miscellaneous Health Medical Professions

Statement of Work Details: 

• Coordinates the recruitment, scheduling, travel and admission of research study participants.
  
  • Coordinate patient schedules with testers, nurses, physicians and clinical research coordinators. 1
  • Coordinate the recruitment, scheduling, travel and admission of research study participants with clinical staff.
  • Work with staff to coordinate new research patient screening appointments, procedures and imaging studies between protocol investigators and the outpatient clinic scheduling personnel.
  • Coordinate scheduling, travel and lodging of subjects participating in studies.
  • Assess unique participant needs prior to visit and address needs with clinical team (i.e. interpreting services, assistive devices, isolation etc.).
• Distributes recruitment materials.
  
  • Distribute patient recruitment and communication materials.
• Acts as a liaison between participants, participant's relatives and staff members and communicates participant's questions, complaints, problems and concerns to appropriate staff members. 
  • Triage questions to appropriate personnel in the team as necessary.
  • Maintain ongoing relationships with patients, families, caregivers, medical care providers and various individuals on a continuous long-term basis.
  • Respond to patient emails and phone calls; prioritize patient related issues into urgent, emergent and routine; triage the issues to the appropriate personnel in the team as necessary.
• Explains policies and procedures to participants and refers them to appropriate staff.
  
  • Respond to communications with research subjects; direct questions to appropriate team member.
  • Stay current on Clinical Center and Institute communications. Updates participant resources and educational materials related to their visit as needed based on these communications.
  • Keep participants informed of Clinical Center and NIH campus changes affecting their visit.
• Collates, enters and maintains data collected on participants.
  
  • Collect outside medical documentation, electronically scans and uploads records into the electronic medical record.
  • Review medical records to collect relevant clinical data.
  • Maintain patient files, medical records, and patient family contacts; file medical record notes into patient charts daily.
  • Create reports/spreadsheets for tracking and scheduling of protocol patients.
  • Obtain medical information, imaging disks and pictures from applicants on an ongoing basis; file them with the records.
• Coordinates new patient referrals by obtaining pertinent information and forwarding it for review.
  
  • Refer prospective volunteers per study guidelines to the appropriate Institute contact person.
  • Obtain outside medical records, radiology studies, biopsy slides and submit to the respective departments at the NIH.
  • Communicate with appropriate staff about intake and materials and submission of materials for review.
• May assist in preparing credentialing packages.
  
  • Perform Quality Assurance reviews on credentialing records.
• Monitors workflow and administers and revises processes to maintain and improve operations.
  
  • Work with staff to achieve optimum schedule and staff utilization; work with staff in problem solving for overlapping appointments.
  • Review future scheduled cases to resolve potential conflicts or problems; monitor additional reports to ensure data validity.
  • Troubleshoot scheduling issues to ensure maximum productivity of staff resources.
  • Monitor and identify areas of improvement in the clinic environment, clinical trial conductance in the outpatient setting, for patients, families and staff.
  • Participate in training other clinical staff on clinical operations.
  • Participate in quality improvement initiatives and maintenance of SOPs.
• Mentors and trains staff on patient recruitment and coordination processes and procedures.
  
  • Assesses organizational need and develops training programs to improve accuracy and performance of patient coordination processes and procedures.
  • Develops training materials, job aids and instructions for use by patient coordinators. 3
  • Mentors and coaches patient coordinators.

Deliverables: 

• Meet with lab members to present updates
• Work products and documents related to performing logistical and administrative duties that facilitate participant travel and appointments by commutating with participant, caregivers, family members and staff while coordinating and planning simple and complex travel, lodging and transportation arrangements; acting as a point of contact between physicians, nursing, NIH staff, contractors and other departments; and acting as a point of contact between staff, departments and participants/caregivers/family members.
• Work products and documents related to collecting outside medical documentation, electronically scan and upload records (including patient ID and demographic data) into the electronic medical record as appropriate; communicating with various clinical administrative support offices/clinics/employees concerning the obtainment of outside patient records -
• Work products and documents related to adapting and maintaining filing systems to create and support an ongoing data base of patient encounters and patient appointments; entering and updating clinic and/or physician appointment schedule availability into the central appointment calendar; and providing appointment and travel information to patients, including scheduled dates and times, appropriate documents to bring, clinic information, hospital maps, travel, and hotel information. 
• Work products and documents related to obtaining up-to-date patient records and other pertinent information prior to appointments or visits; and sending patient appointment reminders and travel details. 

Minimum Education: Associate's 

Certifications & Licenses: Basic CPR certification 

Skills: 

• Maintain client communication regarding data management project status and review key project questions with clients, working in a hospital setting
• HCA Process, track, and validate data accurately and on time, in accordance with data processing and entry instructions
• Perform data abstraction and data entry on several different protocols into multiple clinical research databases 
• Identify project specific reports and assist in the development of these reports
• Public or community health
• Patient/Family education
• Travel arrangements
• Knowledge of clinical protocols and medical terminology
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively in a team environment
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to successfully manage competing priorities. 
• On-site visits
• Data collection
• Communications
• Scheduling