Patient Coordinator I

Job Title: Patient Coordinator I
Location: Flushing, New York
Schedule: Monday–Thursday: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM; Friday: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Hours per Week: 40
Contract Duration: 13 weeks
Hourly rate: $21/hour (Negotiable)

Role Overview
The Patient Coordinator I serves as the initial point of contact for patients, either in person or via telephone. This role involves verifying insurance details, updating patient demographics, ensuring the availability of medical records, and facilitating smooth patient check-in processes.

Key Responsibilities

• Patient Interaction: Greet patients in person or over the phone, updating their insurance and demographic information in the practice management system.
• Insurance Verification: Confirm that the physician accepts the patient's insurance. If not verified prior, ensure verification before or at the time of the patient's arrival.
• Communication: Inform appropriate staff of patient arrivals and ensure the patient's medical record is available for the physician.
• Documentation: Process and update HIPAA-related paperwork and other institutional forms as necessary.
• Authorization Management: Collect or retrieve referrals or insurance authorizations as required.
• Waiting Room Management: Monitor the waiting room status and keep patients informed of wait times.
• Payment Collection: Ensure that patients have paid their co-pay or collect co-pays under the direction of billing staff, providing receipts following established cash-control processes.
• Appointment Scheduling: Schedule follow-up appointments as needed and provide patients with guidelines for requesting medical records.
• Data Entry: Perform simple charge entry tasks or enter payments collected from patients and prepare cashier's deposits. Note: duties are mutually exclusive and may not be performed by the same employee.
• Phone Management: Answer phones for the practice and schedule appointments.
• Compliance: Follow all HIPAA and any other governmental or state agency requirements regarding the appropriate handling of PHI documents.
• Appointment Reminders: Initiate reminder phone calls for next-day appointments.
• Additional Duties: Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications & Skills

• Education: High School diploma or GED.
• Experience: Minimum of 1 year of experience in a physician practice.
• Training: Completion of a minimum of one week of on-site training, provided by the practice.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in keyboarding; experience with IDX or other practice management systems preferred.
• Communication: Ability to communicate effectively with multicultural and language-deficit patients; excellent telephone etiquette.
• Medical Knowledge: Knowledge of medical terminology strongly preferred.
• Adaptability: Must be able to adapt to a growing and changing environment.
• Compliance: Ability to follow HIPAA and other regulatory requirements regarding patient information.