The primary responsibilities of Patient Services Specialist (PSS) to provide quality customer service by greeting the patient, collecting their information and payments in addition to scheduling appointments and maintaining medical records. Due to the different AON office layouts, the below responsibilities and tasks will be broken up or not based on size and skill in office.   

Key Performance Areas:  

Create and maintain patient charts within the EMR and billing systems for New and Hospital Consult Patients. Accurately record and communicate Hospital Consults to the appropriate physician. Responsible for all physician requests regarding schedule changes, patient appointments, etc. including maintaining all future schedules to adhere to physician preferences such as max number of patients, gaps between patients, canceling appointments etc. and fix any problems in advance.  Responsible to work with physicians to assign new patients to appropriate clinician per office policy, if applicable. Keeps records of physician assignments, dates, and diagnoses, if applicable. Accurately and promptly check-in patients per clinic policy, collect and document payments, and verify demographic information is up to date.  Collect or scan patient identification, patient chart photo and insurance cards. Prepare and work reports in accordance with AON and clinic protocols to ensure all patient care is accurate and timely. Schedule patient appointments including follow-ups, treatments, referrals, and outside testing ordered by the physician and provide to the patient in accordance with clinic policy. Prepare the clinic daily close deposit and documents. Balance the Cash drawer if applicable. Distribute documents to appropriate departments. Maintain E-Fax servers and distribute appropriately and/or accurately enter to patient chart as required. Fax or mail records requested by patients or outside physicians. Requests missing information for future appointments from facility or provider and has them faxed to the clinic then files record in chart.

Check-in Station (if applicable)

Check sign-in list as patients arrive for appointments.  Promptly note patient’s arrival in EMR system and note the patient’s location to notify appropriate staff of patient’s arrival.  Verify the patient’s identity according to AONS’ Patient I.D. policy and either affixes the patient’s name label on the patient’s shoulder or hands the patient the label and ensures that he/she affixes the label on their shoulder area. Collect patient co-pays at time of sign-in and print or write a receipt and give to the patient.  Notify Financial Counselor if patient is unable to make payment.  Receipts are written or printed and given to patient.  Post all payments in computer.  Log payment on A/R sheets. Copy insurance cards and picture I.D. of all new patients.  Be sure patient completes medical history forms and notify Financial Counselor of the arrival of the patient as needed. Verify information on the patient’s demographic sheet.  Have patient initial and date every 30 days and in January of every year. Answer telephone promptly and route calls or take messages as appropriate.  Relay messages to the doctor on rounds. Responsible for taking phones off the answering service promptly at 9:00 a.m. and for switching calls to answering service at 5:00 p.m.   Retrieve messages left with answering service/voice mail and distribute as necessary.  Take hospital consult information and relay to physicians and Hospital Rounds Coordinator or other assigned person. Contact patients who do not keep appointment to determine reason and reschedule.  Document the call and reason in patient’s Onco/EMR.  If patient cannot be reached by phone, send appropriate letter.  Cancel missed appointments in computer to produce clean schedules at end of the workday.  Forward sign-in sheets to the EDI Department at the corporate office.        Schedule in computer or designated calendar, physician’s meetings and drug representative’s lunches. Give death certificate to physician for signature.  Call funeral home when paperwork is completed. Run trial close each day.  Fax appropriate information to the business office according to AON policy. Contact patients the day before their appointment to remind them of appointment time.  Reschedule appointments as needed. Compile and distribute information sheets and discs for the PET Scanner in those offices where applicable.

Check-Out Station (if applicable)

Schedule follow-up appointments for clinic as directed by physician’s orders and depart patients out of EMR system. Schedule outside testing, referrals to other physicians and hospital admissions as ordered by physicians, if applicable. Print out patient’s list of appointments and explain each appointment, if applicable.  If outside testing requires preparation, give the patient the preparation and non-prescription medication and explain process to patient/family member.  Request and collect payment from patients as stated on A/R Report and/or computer.  Notify financial counselor if patient is unable to make payment.  Receipts are written or printed and given to patient.  Post credit card payments in computer.  Log payment on A/R sheets. Work with physician and nursing staff to establish manageable daily schedules. (i.e., know how many patients a physician can see in one day, and adjust schedule if necessary to alleviate patient load). Maintain schedules to be sure patients are rescheduled to accommodate physician’s vacations, conferences, and personal appointments. Run trial close daily.  Verify with office manager and fax to business office.   Notifies financial counselor of any insurance change or STAT outside scheduling, or hospital admission.  Answers phones promptly and routes calls or takes messages as appropriate. Balance cash drawer in a.m. and p.m. daily.  Handles cash drawer according to AON procedure.  Checks and maintains front staff and medical record query reports.

Medical Records Station if applicable

Assemble all new patient and Hospital Follow-Up (HFU) charts.  Obtain pertinent information for patient’s appointments by calling referring Doctor, hospital, labs, etc.  Must verify all records received. (Depending on office operation, i.e. handled at other PSS station at some offices). Maintain fax machine with supplies.  Distribute received faxes promptly. Open, sort, and distribute daily mail and any other reports delivered by lab facilities, home health agencies, etc. Empty courier box upon arrival and distribute interoffice mail promptly. Request from and distributes to outside physicians, correspondence, reports, test results on individual patients.  This is accomplished through the medical records activity code in OncoEMR.  Front staff activity as well as refer to doctor activity codes are also initiated by the AON physician of record.  Medical records, refer to doctor and front staff reports are run daily and processed accordingly. Fax or mail records requested by patients or outside physicians. Send charts to corporate office for copying by outside copying company in response to subpoenas or other legal requests per policy. Answer telephones promptly and route calls or take messages as appropriate.Run daily close each day.  Fax appropriate information to the business office

Fax Server if applicable

Checks fax server periodically throughout the day for new faxes to be filed. Always verifies date of birth before selecting account to file records. Deletes faxes once they have been labeled and filed correctly. Notifies Onco/EMR support or office manager to remove faxes that were filed incorrectly in patient’s chart. Notifies Onco support or office manager when a procedure is missing from the Name/Subject drop down list to be added. Files all documents in the correct category and with the correct document Name/Subject.

Job Duties Common to all stations:

Provide support and understanding to our patients and their caregivers to create a friendly and welcoming environment. Graciously answer telephones promptly and route calls or document messages including voicemails as appropriate within the EMR. Activate and deactivate the answering service as required for clinic hours. Must understand and follow the policy for emergency calls Perform the tasks of other patient services specialist stations that employee has been trained on. Will be expected to cover other stations for absences, lunches, vacations, etc. Comply with all Federal and State laws and regulations pertaining to patient care, patients’ rights, safety, billing, privacy and collections.  Adhere to all AON and departmental policies and procedures, including IT policies and procedures and disaster recovery plan. Assist in training other AON employees. Keep work area and records in a neat and orderly manner. Maintain all company equipment in a safe and working order. Maintain and ensure the confidentiality of all patient and employee information at all times in accordance to policy and HIPAA regulations. Will be expected to work at any AON location to help meet AON business needs. 

Required Qualifications: 

Education:   High School Diploma; Associates degree a plus

Experience:

• Minimally one year healthcare field.  Physician office preferred.

• Patient/Customer focused.

• Attention to detail with strong ability to multitask.

• Excellent interpersonal skills.  

• Strong communication skills with a wide variety of personalities.

Core Capabilities:

• Analysis & Critical Thinking: Critical thinking skills including solid problem solving, analysis, decision-making, planning, time management and organizational skills. Must be detailed oriented with the ability to exercise independent judgment.

• Interpersonal Effectiveness: Developed interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, diplomacy, tact, conflict management, delegation skills, and diversity awareness. Ability to work effectively with sensitive and confidential material and sometimes emotionally charged matters.

• Communication Skills: Good command of the English language. Second language is an asset but not required. Effective communication skills (oral, written, presentation), is an active listener, and effectively provides balanced feedback.

• Customer Service & Organizational Awareness: Strong customer focus. Ability to build an engaging culture of quality, performance effectiveness and operational excellence through best practices, strong business and political acumen, collaboration and partnerships, as well as a positive employee, physician and community relations.

• Self-Management: Effectively manages own time, conflicting priorities, self, stress, and professional development. Self-motivated and self-starter with ability work independently with limited supervision. Ability to work remotely effectively as required.  

• Must be able to work effectively in a fast-paced, multi-site environment with demonstrated ability to juggle competing priorities and demands from a variety of stakeholders and sites.

• Computer Skills:

  • Proficiency in MS Office Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook required.

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