Patient Access Specialist

Job Summary And Responsibilities

Franciscan Medical Group, as part of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, is currently looking for a full-time Patient Access Specialist I for the fast‑paced Franciscan Patient Access team in Tacoma. Flexible work schedule with excellent opportunity for growth. Monday‑Friday, 9:30am‑6:00pm with occasional weekends required.

This job is responsible for performing general patient access duties in a centralized call center environment in accordance with established standards and procedures. An incumbent answers incoming phone calls and assists patients with registration, scheduling, insurance and medication refill needs for all providers within an assigned specific specialty. Work is instrumental in promoting positive outcomes for providers, clinic staff and patients.

Work includes:
1) verifying demographics and registering patients in Epic;
2) obtaining and verifying insurance coverage;
3) scheduling patient appointments and
4) promoting MyChart activation. An incumbent may also schedule for special projects (e.g. Health grades; Seven Corners, virtual visits, etc.) as assigned.

Work requires knowledge of patient registration and insurance verification processes, privacy/confidentiality standards, as well as knowledge of medical terminology and the ability to utilize all available resources/tools to problem‑solve in a timely, efficient and effective manner. An incumbent follows proper channels of communication in handling daily and routine problems and recognizing issues that need referral/escalation to management. Strong customer service skills are also necessary.

This job is responsible for performing the duties associated with I level for multiple assigned specialties. Work at this level requires additional training and expertise in visit types, reviewing/attaching referrals to the visit, differences between in‑network insurances and other special imaging/scheduling requirements. Also scheduling for providers in multiple specialties requires additional patience/flexibility and a broader base of knowledge regarding provider preferences and scheduling nuances.

Answers incoming phone calls from patients who need to schedule an appointment; meets standards for established quantity and quality of calls answered. (50%)

• Schedules (and reschedules as necessary) patient clinic visits (based on authorized referral in the case of specialty clinics) in accordance with established standards and procedures;
  Utilizes Epic Provider Vista to facilitate timely and accurate appointment scheduling; searches multiple provider schedules concurrently; accesses scheduling guidelines for each individual provider and applies scheduling preferences as appropriate; cross‑schedules patients with providers who have the earliest availability.
• Applies understanding of the differences between visit types and when each type of appointment can be scheduled to facilitate accurate scheduling.
• Provides basic information in response to patient questions within scope of position; follows established procedures to assure that all registration guidelines/requirements have been satisfied; identifies deficiencies and resolves non‑complex issues or escalates to appropriate staff for further action.
• Makes arrangements for addressing special/ancillary patient requirements, including transportation, interpreters and other needs relating to patient care and satisfaction.

Answers incoming phone calls from patients requesting a medication refill; sends messages back to office staff in correct format and including all necessary information. (25%)

• Applies knowledge of Epic smart phrases for various message types and where to locate medication/pharmacy information in the patient’s Epic chart to identify correct medication is being requested.
• Determines, based on established guidelines, if a provider appointment is necessary to discuss the medication and schedules appointment; if appointment is unnecessary, assures, within scope of position, request for correct medication and sends message to back office of call‑receiving clinic to initiate the refill as…