Practice Coordinator - South Shore Health

Job Description Summary

Responsible for supporting the administrative duties for the practice. Responsibilities include scheduling, confirming appointments, including reminder calls and follow-ups,  patient interaction (telephone and in-person), administrative practice support, and special projects.  Essential duties include administrative support and coordination for services involving physicians and outside offices, physical therapy departments, vendors, pharmacies, diagnostic imaging, patients, etc. Communicates with outside physicians and offices facilitating emergent requests, evaluating what patient information or studies are necessary to provide good patient care in a safe and efficient manner.

Job Description

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1. Organizes the needs of the clinic, communicating to staff and physicians the numbers, acuity, and special needs on a daily basis.
a. Serves as the liaison between the physicians and South Shore Anesthesia (SSA) for any information or questions that need to be answered for approvals and any additional information required to facilitate patient's appointments.

b. Addresses any outstanding issues on account from the day before (i.e., patients that weren't checked in, no shows/cancellations, patients that left without being seen).

c. Creates daily charts for Pain Clinic patients as well as the next patients appointments.

d. Organizes patient appointment charts and organizes delivery of medical records to HIM at the end of the day.

e. Organizes and tabulates monthly statistics for the department.

f. Works with Nurse Manager and charge nurse in order to deal with patients concerns.


2. Communicates with outside physicians and offices to facilitate emergent requests, evaluate what patient information or studies are necessary to provide good patient care in a safe and efficient manner.
a. Obtains MRI's, etc. from outside facilities as needed, advising the physician if any studies still are needed.

b. Facilitates communication between physicians and outside offices, physical therapy departments, vendors, pharmacies, diagnostic imaging, patients, etc.

c. Arranges tests as requested by physicians including MRI's, lab work, etc. Communicates information back to the physician and patient.

d. Schedules appointments in a timely manner. Serves as the contact person for the outside offices, helping the physicians with appointments or other special needs or requests.

e. Notifies SSA when a patient is assessed for a Stimulator Trial or an Intrathecal pump so that approval can be received and an OR date set. Ensures patient has a pre-op and post-op visit.

f. Coordinates approvals for workers' comp for clinic appointments, MRI's, injections, trials and OR cases.

g. Organizes new patient information, and sends out new patient packets in a timely manner.


3. Greets patients; verbally verifies required personal information. Receives and directs phone calls and serves as the receptionist for the department.
a. Refers patients to financial counselor as appropriate.

b. Directs patient to the appropriate waiting area.


4. Answers telephone calls. Triages calls as necessary. Communicates with patients/doctor's offices about procedures and medication questions prior to each procedure.
a. Handles incoming requests for medical records and mails/faxes information as appropriate; works closely with Health Information Management (HIM) on medical requests and changes to personal patient information (i.e., patient name change).


5. Assists patients as needed with transportation issues for homebound patients and any other special needs that they may require for their procedure.
6. Provides customer service to colleagues, assisting with computer problems or questions. Follows up with appropriate contact person such as IT, OR Scheduler, Application Specialist, ensuring no duplication of inquiries.

7. Ensures that authorization is received from the prescribing physician for anti coag patients prior to making their appointments.
a. Faxes doctor's office with consent to hold the medicine. Advises the scheduler and the nurse of the consent and makes the appointment.

b. Maintains records of all intrathecal pump patients, tracking their fill dates and their appointments and ensuring their medication is available the day of their appointment.


8. Orders all office supplies for the clinic.
a. Checks office supplies weekly and orders when necessary.


9. Communicates with the billing coders if they have questions on coding the visit correctly. Follows through to ensure the issue is resolved.

10. Prepares, distributes and files a wide variety of reports, as required.
a. End of day sends appropriate papers to HIM.

b. Updates patient visits in computer-registrar.

c. Coordinates the monthly statistics for the Pain Clinic.

d. Assists the Nurse Manager with the data collection for the monthly report.

e. Reconciles outstanding accounts at end of month.




ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS (Cont.)

I. Technology and Learning
a. Participates in continued learning and possess a willingness and ability to learn and utilize new technology and procedures that continue to develop in their role and throughout the organization.


b. Embraces technological advances that allow us to communicate information effectively and efficiently based on role.
Strong understanding of Microsoft Office product suite. Excellent customer service and communication skills, both written and verbal. Self starter with strong team player and leadership abilities. Strong analytical skills, problem solving skills, attention to details, ability to balance multiple tasks. Ability to be organized in a fast-paced environment, prioritize and meet pre-determined deadlines. Must have ability to adapt to a changing environment in a practice with frequent interruptions; ability to adapt to system changes within the practice. Understanding of Departmental and Hospital policies, procedures and operations in order to assume complex scheduling details. Excellent computer skills required in the use of multi system programs including Hospital based systems and outside systems Advanced technical skills, as appropriate. Knowledge of medical terminology preferred.