Patient Services Representative

Job Title: Patient Services Representative-Float

Locations: Hilo & Pahoa

POSITION FUNCTION SUMMARY:

Under the general direction of the Manager, the Patient Services Representative greets patients and visitors entering HICHC—registers new and returning patients, schedules patient appointments and collects payments from patients for their visit—in a manner that is supportive and responsive to patients and visitors.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

This position may have various work assignments within HICHC. This description is intended to be generic in nature, and as such it does not detail all of the duties and responsibilities of a particular job assignment. It is not intended to determine specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position, and essential functions and overtime eligibility may vary based on the specific tasks assigned to the position:

Patient Reception:

1. Greets new and returning patients and clients entering the health center and checks them in for scheduled and walk-in appointments.

2. Updates patient records to verify contact information.

3. Greets other visitors to the health center and directs them to the appropriate offices or individual staff.

4. Provides general information to patients concerning functions of HICHC.

5. Answers the telephone and connects callers to the appropriate offices or individual staff.

6. Refers all inquiries for assessing need for urgent appointment to designated triage nurse.

7. Schedules/reschedules/cancels/verifies new office appointments and return appointments.

8. Forwards all referrals, refills, lab tests and results as necessary to appropriate personnel.

9. Maintains daily record on the number of patient encounters and missed and late patient appointments.

10. Other duties as assigned.

Patient Registration:

1. Meets with patients to collect and update required personal, health, and insurance information.

2. Enters accurate patient data at the patient’s time of service.

3. Prepares and assembles the new patient health record and updates patient files.

4. Prepares patient charts for scheduled and walk-in appointments.

5. Verifies insurance eligibility for Medicaid, Medicare, and third party payers.

6. Verifies personal income according to established guidelines for self pay patients.

7. Requests patient charts from storage when necessary.

8. Other duties as assigned.

Patient Cashiering:

1. Enters patient charge data at the time of the visit.

2. Collects payment from the patient at the time of check-in, posts all charges according to established procedures and generates a receipt for the patient visit.

3. Counsels with patients who are unable to pay for their visit and refer to the Billing.

4. Maintains a daily record of all billing receipts and prepares the bank deposit and cash reconciliation reports for the Finance Department.

5. Runs reports of daily billing transactions for Finance Department audit.

6. Accepts cash, checks or bankcards for payment of fees or cost of goods/services received; completes check and bankcard transactions according to established procedures.

7. Reviews encounter to calculate total fee, counts money, gives change and issues receipt.

8. Balances cash drawer against receipts, resolves discrepancies; deposits funds into proper accounts using basic accounting practices.

9. Other duties as assigned.

OTHER DUTIES:

1. Review new sliding fee Scale (SFS) applications with patients as needed, to make sure forms are complete and patient understands process including any follow-up needed.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS:

Requirements of Positions:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and Experience:

High School graduate or GED certificate and six months to one year related experience and/or training is required; OR any equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Position requires basic knowledge of general office procedures including filing, copying, faxing.

• Ability to use a computer to enter patient data and retrieve information to generate reports and payment receipts.

• Ability to work on multiple tasks within established deadlines.

• Ability to work under the direction of a supervisor and follow instructions.

• Ability to take the initiative to resolve patient concerns and problems.

Language Skills:

• Ability to read and interpret documents such as government regulations and guidelines, patient records, operating and maintenance instructions, procedure manuals, etc.

• Ability to write at a minimal level of competence, including internal reports and memoranda.

• Ability to communicate with diverse groups of people to include staff and providers and patients.

• Ability to communicate effectively with patients and their families to make their visit a pleasant experience.

• Sensitivity to the multicultural nature of the service area population and may be required to communicate in another language.

Personal Characteristics:

Personal characteristics to include: a team player, high integrity, communication and customer relations skills, regular work attendance, courteous and friendly, able to work well with diverse groups of people, and gain and maintain respect of others.

Confidential and Sensitive Information:

Because the employee has access to personal and professional data regarding individual employees and their families, personal data regarding individual patients and the families, and/or sensitive company financial data, an essential job result is the maintenance of a high level of confidentiality of the information processed by the employee. Violation of this confidence may result in disciplinary action, including termination of employment.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS/WORKING CONDITIONS:

General Remarks: The work environment described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential tasks and functions.

Environment: The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. There are no known environmental hazards on the premises. Work environment is often stressful. Work is mostly inside, and normal office worker safety precautions and practices are required. Incumbent may be exposed to patients' conditions and some-unpleasant sights, smells and contagious diseases including virus, disease and infection from patients and specimens in working environment. All employees are offered the opportunity to receive the Hepatitis B vaccination series.

Equipment Use: Frequent use of telephone system and office equipment including but not limited to computer, printer, facsimile machine, copier and general office supplies. Occasional use of wheelchair, gurney and other assisted devices for patient transfers in the clinic.

Work Hours: Eight hour work days. Overtime may be required.

Mental Demands: Duties require attention to detail, alertness, problem solving, tolerance to stress and exercising sound judgment. Duties require high tolerance and adequate coping skills for dealing with loss, grief and bereavement. Good stress reduction and management skills are essential.

The foregoing position description is not all-inclusive of the duties that may be assigned to the employee. In order to ensure maximum flexibility and efficiency and to encourage cross training, employees will be assigned additional duties as deemed necessary or desirable by HICHC.