Covenant Health

Patient Registration Specialist, Emergency Department

Full Time, 80 Hours Per Pay Period, Day Shift

Morristown-Hamblen Overview:

Morristown-Hamblen Healthcare System is a 170-bed hospital serving an eight-county region in East Tennessee’s Lakeway Area. The facility includes more than 20 emergency suites, advanced laboratories, radiology, and therapy services, and a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence for mammograms, biopsies, and nurse navigation. The Women’s Center features six modern labor and delivery suites and a secure nursery for newborn care. With state-of-the-art technology and a dedicated team, Morristown-Hamblen provides exceptional, patient-focused care close to home. To meet the needs of our growing community, we continue to develop services, attract new physicians, and embrace innovation, all to promote an improved quality of life.  

Position Summary: 

The Emergency Department Patient Registration Specialist coordinates the registration process for all patient encounters within the Emergency Department. Responsibilities include quick registration for patients, accurate financial and demographic collection, verification of insurance benefits, and data entry of the required financial information, insurance verification and payment collection. This area of registration is operational 24/7.

• Performs the Quick Registration process for Emergency Department encounters in a timely manner.
• Coordinates front desk patient flow and notifies the triage/charge nurse of patient situations that require urgent clinical attention.
• Accurately completes full registration gathering demographic and financial information for all patient encounters, following EMTALA guidelines.
• Collects co-payments/deposits based on verification information obtained, generates receipts and delivers all cash transactions to the facility cashier for proper posting procedures.
• Utilizes the electronic signature system to complete registration forms and explains a variety of necessary information to the patient/family member, such as: consent for treatment, advance directives, Medicare forms.
• Understands and follows the facility de-escalation process when situations arise, contacting appropriate resources as necessary (i.e. Security, House Supervisor).
• Utilizes bedside registration process efficiently and effectively.
• Utilizes the Emergency Department Tracking board to monitor and update the registration status for each patient.
• Issues Medicare notices timely to patients (Inpatient Rights/MOON) as appropriate, based on Patient Status Order and Insurance.
• Demonstrates the ability to meet registration quality and MSP accuracy of 95% monthly/quarterly
• Works various daily reports for follow up on information unable to be obtained initially (i.e. PIN report, Failed Bill Report)
• Demonstrates ability to keep up with regulatory and insurance requirements ensuring that changes are incorporated in daily job functions.
• Activates manual systems for computer network downtime and notifies leadership of unscheduled downtime occurrences.
• Adheres to established departmental policies and procedures, objectives, process improvement initiates, safety, environmental and infection control standards.
• Attends monthly staff meetings and participates in discussions regarding work performance and departmental/hospital updates. Completes required education assignments annually.
• Professionally interacts with patients, physicians, visitors, and other hospital staff members. Promotes good public relations for the department and the hospital.
• Demonstrates ability to work efficiently in all areas of the Emergency Department (i.e. Front Desk, EMS registration, Discharge/Financial Counselor).
• Completes insurance verification for all encounters admitted through the Emergency Department for the Advanced Care at Home program and Utilization Management.
• Rotates on-call and holiday schedule to meet departmental demands in the 24/7 environment.
• Assists acute nursing floors with a variety of tasks (i.e. assignment of beds, PIN corrections, printing of labels and canceling discharges).
• Provides assistance to visitors presenting through the Emergency Room Entrance.
• Performs registrations for various clinical sites/areas (i.e. Select Specialty, Encompass, Transitional Care Unit, Women’s Services, Lab, DOB Body Hold and Direct Admissions)
• Handles the Legal Blood Alcohol/Toxicology registration for external Law Enforcement Agencies.
• Provides demographic and billing information to Ambulance Services.
• Updates the HRTS TN Gov system as requested for facility availability and status.
• Efficiently demonstrates the ability to perform tasks within multiple computer/software applications (i.e. STAR, Cerner, TransUnion and various insurance websites).
• Demonstrates the ability to multi-task by managing multiple patients’ registration information until each one is completed.
• Follows policies, procedures, and safety standards. Completes required education assignments annually. Works toward achieving goals and objectives, and participates in quality improvement initiatives as requested.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Education:           

None specified; will accept any combination of formal education and/or prior work experience sufficient to demonstrate possession of the knowledge, skill and ability needed to perform the essential tasks of the job, typically such as would be equivalent to a high school diploma or GED.  Preference may be given to individuals possessing a Bachelor’s degree in a directly-related field from an accredited college or university.

Minimum Experience:         

Minimum 6 months customer-facing/customer service and basic computer skills required.

Licensure Requirement:      

None.