The Office Assistant performs a variety of assigned clerical and patient care duties essential to the daily operations of the assigned department. Duties may vary by department and/or site and may include: patient registration, patient scheduling, coordinating the physician order re-certification process, insurance verification and coordination of services for patients, charge entry and reconciliation functions, co-payment and daily cash receipt responsibilities, assisting with medical record operations on a daily basis, greeting, registering and escorting patients, completing patient set-ups, turning over patient rooms and ensuring that the exam room is properly cleaned and prepped, performing other patient care duties determined by the therapist or physician, editing and distributing clinical dictations, order and maintain clinical and administrative supplies, creates patient registration packets for patients and/or billing department, and providing front office and/call center coverage and assistance.
Education

• High School Diploma or GED required and
• Associate's degree (A.A.) preferred or
• Bachelor's degree from a college or university in healthcare or related field preferred

Experience

• 1-2 years Experience working in a role involving customer service required
• 1-2 years Experience in a medical office required or a combination of experience and education will be accepted for outpatient physician centers. preferred
• Less than 1 year 3 months of related experience/and or training in a fast paced medical office setting for therapy/ambulatory offices preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent customer service, as well as excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft office products including Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Highly organized, process oriented individual who has the ability to multi-task, be flexible and be a self-starter.
• Ability to follow instructions and assist visitors and/or patients without compromising safety, service, care or efficiency.
• Friendly and professional when interacting with patients and visitors at all times.
• Position is initial face and the initial voice of the clinic and should be able to project a positive and professional image at all times.

Contributes to the achievement of established department goals and objectives and adheres to department policies, procedures, quality standards, and safety standards. Complies with governmental and accreditation regulations.

Promptly answers assigned extensions using the correct salutation and follows script and completes patient reminder calls processes and procedures as assigned.

Greets and assists patients on the telephone and in person by triaging patient inquiries and concerns to appropriate clinical and non-clinical team members.

Completes the preliminary intake efficiently, accurately and completely; performs patient updates, scanning, registration, patient scheduling of initial and follow-up appointments based on insurance guidelines, and messaging in the department's practice management (PM) system and/or electronic health record (EHR).

Performs insurance verification and coordinates services/authorizations for patients, as assigned.

Completes and/or ensures accurate collection of copayments and copayment reconciliation, charge entry reconciliation, preparation of bank deposits and cash receipt logs, as assigned.

Demonstrates proficiency with the billing portion of the PM system to include: guarantor information, benefit information, insurance information, insurance priority, episode of care information, open HMO referrals, alternate insurances and system notes (if applicable).

Assembles financial paperwork and medical record paperwork for physicians and/or clinical team; assists patients with completing of required office forms, reviews all patient information for accurateness and completeness and witnesses all financial forms as required. Communicates duplicate or multiple medical record accounts to appropriate medical records personnel for merging.

In the Physician Centers: Registers and schedules patients for a variety of different physician specialty clinics as well as modifying physician schedules upon request. Works closely with Patient Insurance Specialists, secretaries and nurses to coordinate and schedule procedures and clinics.

Requests and obtains referrals, medical records or diagnostic reports from internal and external providers, as assigned.

Monitors and handles case management for patients in the EHR system, as assigned.

Maintains waiting area in clean and neat condition, restocking materials as needed.

Monitors administrative supplies and keeps administrative supplies at par levels.

Responds to all payer-specific questions from patients and clinical providers, as appropriate.

Participates in meetings and on committees and represents the department and hospital in community outreach efforts. Participates in multi-disciplinary quality and service improvement teams.