Covenant Health

Scheduler, Patient Services Coordinator, Patient Services Center

Full Time, 80 Hours Per Pay Period, Day Shift

Homecare and Hospice Overview: 

Covenant Health HomeCare and Hospice is the area’s largest locally owned home health and hospice provider, with one of the largest rehabilitation departments in East Tennessee. Our HomeCare and Hospice services are part of Covenant Health, East Tennessee’s largest nonprofit health system and a Becker’s “Top 150 Places to Work in Healthcare.” Covenant Health includes nine hospitals and nearly 150 service locations, offering employees a comprehensive benefits package with tuition reimbursement, student loan assistance, certification bonuses, and leadership development programs. 

Position Summary:

Directly responsible for scheduling visits and communicating with field staff, patients, physicians, etc. to maintain proper care coordination and continuity of care for assigned team (teams may contain up to 200 patients and up to 50 staff of any discipline).  The PSC also assists the Clinical Supervisors with day-to-day office and staff management.     

• Maintain established departmental policies and procedures, objectives, quality assurance program and safety standards.
• Manages schedules for all agents (visiting staff). Edits schedule for agents calling in sick or using CTO, ensuring patients are reassigned timely.
• Receives calls from patients and agents. Covers Clinical Supervisor calls during lunch, weekly Case Conferences, and other busy times. Escalates calls to appropriate coordinator, supervisor, or manager as necessary.
• Assists Coordinator to maintain the on-call schedules.
• Completes requested schedules for all add-ons and applicable orders:
  • Schedules discharge visit / OASIS Collection or recert visit following case conference when task appears on action screen.
  • Reschedules declined or missed (if appropriate) visits.
  • Processes reassigned and rescheduled visits.
  • Ensures Supervisory Visits are scheduled according to agency protocol and regulatory mandates.
• Runs all scheduling reports.
• Receives lab reports and if clinical, assesses for normality. Faxes a copy of lab to doctor, and routes to the Medical Records Department.
• Prepares weekly Agent Schedules. Performs initial review of weekly schedule for productivity/geographic issues and forwards schedule to Clinical Manager for approval prior to distribution to staff.
• Verifies visit paper notes in scheduling console as needed.
• Assists with internal transfer of patients between branch offices.
• Resolves scheduling protocol issues, interaction, and integration of new and established patients.
• Participates regularly in monthly staff meetings and periodically in physician meetings.
• Maintain professional growth and development through seminars, workshops and professional affiliations to keep abreast of latest trends in field of expertise.
• Collaborate with the patient, agent and other care team members as part of the team based approach to overall patient care.
• Monitors workflow and/or Patients Served (eTHIN) report for current and pending patients that are receiving treatment at participating facilities and completes follow up work as appropriate.
• Oversees and keep track of visiting staff, notifying all parties of any changes and answering questions from surgeons in timely manner.
• Answer phones regarding:
  • Follow up
  • New Patient
  • Assisting agents
  • Assisting hospitals/facilities
  • Assisting patients
• Assist with hospital transfers for home health and hospice patients, including respite and general inpatient levels of care (speaking with hospital, notifying proper parties, and entering information in computer). Arranges rapid access transfer from one hospital to needed facility.
• Arranges all scheduling for outpatient visits for both home health and hospice for:
  • Skilled Nursing
  • Physical Therapy
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Speech Therapy
  • Social Work
  • Home Health Aides
  • Chaplains
• Oversees and keeps up with all supervisory visits (bi-weekly and monthly) scheduling those appointments and follow ups as required by discipline.
• Collaborate with agents and supervisors to make schedules and workflow more efficient for meeting patient’s needs.
• 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:           

High School diploma or GED equivalent required.

Minimum Experience:         

One year of administrative experience in a healthcare environment preferred. Requires basic understanding of general office procedures.  Previous experience in medical office supervision preferred.  Requires effective human relations and

communications skills.

Licensure Requirement:      

None.