Northwestern Memorial Healthcare is looking for a Patient Access Specialist to join our team. This part-time days role reflects our mission, vision, and values, and is essential in providing exceptional customer service while handling patient registration and scheduling. You will be a key representative, establishing a positive first impression of Northwestern Medicine.
What You'll Do
- Consistently practice the Patients First philosophy and adhere to high standards of customer service.
- Maintain patient confidentiality per HIPAA regulations.
- Correctly identify and collect patient demographic information in accordance with organization standards.
- Interact with various hospital departments and physicians' offices to effectively schedule and direct patients through the NMHC systems.
- Perform medical necessity checks for scheduled services and communicate options to patients if appointments fail.
- Inform patients of any issues with securing the financial account for their encounter and complete out-of-pocket estimations as requested.
- Manage your work schedule efficiently, completing tasks and assignments on time.
- Participate in cross-training between various departments to ensure coverage.
- Use effective service recovery skills to solve problems or service breakdowns when they occur.
- Collect authorization numbers in appropriate systems and verify insurance eligibility and benefit levels using online tools or over the phone.
- Run real-time eligibility (RTE) on all patients to verify insurance and follow out-of-network policies.
- Understand the minimum data set required for a complete registration, collect and verify critical data, and update information into the registration system.
- Proactively analyze account activity, identify problems, and initiate appropriate actions and resolutions.
- Participate in departmental quality improvement activities and provide ideas for process improvements.
- Act as a training resource for new staff and a knowledge resource for coworkers.
- Evolve and learn as healthcare policies change.
What We're Looking For
- A commitment to the Patients First philosophy and high standards of customer service.
- Experience in patient registration, scheduling, or a similar customer-facing healthcare role.
- Strong understanding of patient confidentiality and HIPAA regulations.
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to accommodate all levels of communication ability.
- Ability to interact professionally and constructively across units and departments.
- Skill in proactively preventing issues with patient visits by verifying details and communicating effectively.
- Demonstrated teamwork by helping co-workers within and across departments.
- Ability to manage a schedule efficiently and adapt to shifting business needs.
Technical Stack
- Epic for patient scheduling and registration notes.
- NDAS and ASF for insurance eligibility and benefit verification.
- Multiple online order retrieval systems.
Team & Environment
You will report to a Team Lead or Operations Coordinator for extraordinary issues. The culture emphasizes a team atmosphere built on the Patients First philosophy and high standards of customer service.
Work Mode
This is an onsite position located at our facilities in McHenry and Woodstock.
Northwestern Memorial Healthcare is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) including Disabled and Veterans.
