Financial Counselor (.FTE

Join to apply for the Financial Counselor (.8 FTE) role at Lindner Center of HOPE
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The Lindner Center of Hope is a nonprofit, comprehensive mental health center and global leader offering state‑of‑the‑science diagnosis and treatment of the most pervasive mental illnesses of our time. It is one of the first centers designed as a fully integrated system of care to address deficiencies in mental health care identified by the Institute of Medicine, and partners with UC Health to provide innovative residential assessment, inpatient and outpatient programs serving more than 54,660 patients worldwide.

The Center is also a leader in research and collaborations that advance the field and position Cincinnati as a national leader in mental health care.

The Financial Counselor serves as the primary contact for patients and families regarding financial assistance, insurance coverage, authorizations, and pre‑service payment.

• Meets with patients admitted during the business day to complete the formal admission into the EMR system by collecting and verifying patient demographic and insurance information, taking the patient’s picture, and saving the image in the EMR system.
• Obtains the appropriate signatures on consents and assignment of benefits, scans insurance cards, picture , and other documents into the document imaging system.
• Assists with insurance eligibility and benefits verification electronically for patients with new insurance.
• Contacts the patient or responsible party by phone to complete pre‑registration and obtain or verify all demographic and insurance information, updating the patient account system as appropriate. Screens for medical necessity and completes the Medicare Secondary Payer Questionnaire for all Medicare patients during pre‑registration.
• Calls applicable insurance companies to obtain facility and professional mental health, substance abuse and eating disorder benefits, accurately documents benefits and the patient’s financial liability in the patient account system.
• Alerts team members to any insurance coverage issues immediately and follows up with patient or representative until resolved.
• Performs audits of accounts during benefit loading to ensure all required demographic, insurance, financial forms, and contracts are obtained and documented in the electronic medical record.
• Communicates applicable deductible, co‑pay, or coinsurance to the patient during pre‑registration or upon check‑in.
• Collects co‑pay, deductible or other out‑of‑pocket liability including residential self‑payments, posts the payment to the patient account system, and receives receipts.
• Sets payment arrangements as appropriate, refers the patient to the financial counselor as needed, and prepares patient cost estimates.
• Provides education and counseling to self‑pay patients regarding available government coverage options.
• Monitors financial counseling work queues in EPIC, serves as the initial contact for determining out‑of‑network benefits, and obtains information for potential single case agreements or reimbursement.
• Works with Intake staff and other clinical teams on initial referrals to inpatient or other LCOH programs to confirm coverage levels prior to admission.
• Collaborates with the CFAO to determine feasibility of single case agreements, and meets with the Utilization Review team to discuss admissions that are a financial risk to the center.
• Coordinates with Intake and OPP staff to obtain necessary authorizations, accurately entering authorization numbers, dates and services in the account system.
• Works closely with clinical teams and insurance companies to secure treatment plans, obtain clinical information for authorizations for ECT, TMS and outpatient services, and tracks services received.
• Assists in ensuring benefit verifications, authorizations, helping‑hands applications, pro‑bono and financial assistance applications are addressed timely.
• Documents all discussions and outcomes regarding patient accounts in the system.
• Responds to inquiries about patient accounts, financial assistance policy and network status.
• Maintains knowledge of LCOH service lines…