Covenant Health

Patient Access Supervisor, Centralized Scheduling

Full Time, 80 Hours Per Pay Period, Day Shift

Covenant Health Overview:

Covenant Health is East Tennessee’s top-performing healthcare network with 10 hospitals and over 85 outpatient and specialty services, and Covenant Medical Group, our area’s fastest-growing physician practice division. Headquartered in Knoxville, Covenant Health is a community-owned, not-for-profit healthcare system and the area’s largest employer with over 11,000 employees. Covenant Health is the only healthcare system in East Tennessee to be named six times by Forbes as a Best Employer. 

Position Summary: 

The Patient Access Supervisor coordinates and monitors the verification, scheduling, and pre-registration of all outpatient diagnostic procedures, as defined under the Centralized Scheduling Department’s purview.  Provides guidance to staff to ensure that all departmental functions are performed accurately and efficiently.  Responsibilities include supervision of Patient Access Specialists, issue resolution, accurate collection and entry of required financial and demographic patient information, scheduling queue management, verification of benefits, scheduling, payment collection, and patient financial counseling.  Assists in recruitment and development of competent staff, ensuring productivity and positive morale.  This position reports to the Centralized Scheduling Patient Access Manager.

Integrity

• Demonstrates the ability to proficiently monitor the functions of staff within the department, ensuring that staff display professionalism, courtesy, and an understanding of patient concerns, while making sure that delays and errors in the scheduling process are kept to a minimum
• Assists in holding staff accountable for performing all assigned duties in a professional manner
• Collects patient payment of financial responsibility over the phone, provides receipt of payment to patient, and documents payment as outlined in the department’s workflow
• Provides financial counseling assistance for self-pay patients, worker’s compensation patients, patients being scheduled for non-covered procedures, or patients who are unable to pay the estimated patient responsibility
• Recommends to the Manager new policies and procedures and updates to existing ones that are intended to increase efficiency and promote data integrity
• Assists in evaluating and implementing appropriate modifications to existing policies and procedures that support Covenant Health’s values and are intended to increase efficiency and promote data integrity
• Assists in ensuring continuing compliance with the Joint Commission, State and Federal regulations, HIPAA, HCFA, and CMS guidelines as they relate to department activity

Quality

• Assists in maintaining departmental equipment and supplies
• Assists with providing guidance and leadership to the Centralized Scheduling department, including hiring, training, employee counseling, employee evaluation, establishment of work priorities and other daily operational duties
• Assists with coordinating verification, pre-certification, scheduling, and pre-registration of Outpatient Diagnostic service areas as defined under the existing Centralized Scheduling purview
• Assists with managing staff issues, schedule changes, and daily operational questions
• Schedules diagnostic procedures utilizing the eCare (Cerner) scheduling system
• Verifies all orders are completed and signed
• Verifies insurance benefits and verifies pre-certification from third-party payers
• Has extensive knowledge of insurance plan and pre-certification requirements
• Accurately documents relevant demographic, clinical, and financial information required for scheduling, pre-registration, and insurance verification using eCare (Cerner), TransUnion, and STAR
• Attempts to collect payment of financial responsibility for all patients to improve overall collections and cash flow
• Reports pertinent procedural changes/updates to appropriate leadership.
• Professionally interacts with patients, providers, office staff, and hospital department staff members
• Demonstrates ability to keep up with regulatory and insurance requirements, ensuring that changes are incorporated into daily job functions

Serving the Customer

• Ensures the scheduling process is handled in a professional and courteous manner
• Clearly communicates all necessary information to patients, e.g. clinical preps as outlined in the eCare scheduling guidelines, ABNs, financial responsibility, etc.
• Recognizes situations that require managerial involvement and seeks out appropriate resources
• Demonstrates motivation necessary to reach productivity goals and assists others in reaching departmental goals

Caring For and Developing Our People

• Displays competence in the use of all IT Systems related to insurance verification, scheduling, patient registration, and scheduling
• Monitors appointment schedules daily for cancellations, reschedules, stats, or other changes; communicates with all departments impacted
• Shows initiative to cross-train in all duties related to departmental functions
• 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.
• Assists in monitoring reports and staff performance to ensure accuracy of information and patient satisfaction

Using the Community’s Resources Wisely

• Activates manual systems for computer network downtime, printing schedules in advance when necessary
• Notifies leadership of unscheduled downtime occurrences

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:         

Experience in hospital setting or financial area required.

Licensure Requirement:      

None