Medical Practice Assistant

Medical Practice Assistant Primary Purpose - Accountable for providing patient-centered care and operational support to the medical team to ensure optimal patient experience. - Coordinates activities across clinical areas and facilitates smooth patient flow. - Assists with patient data collection, performs select screenings, and completes medical office functions relevant to the area/assignment. MINIMUM SPECIFICATIONS Education - None Experience - Must have three years of customer service experience, preferably in a medical/healthcare/health insurance setting. - Patient registration experience preferred. - Prefer completion of coursework towards an accredited medical terminology. - Medical Office Assistant experience or training is a plus. - Equivalent Education and/or Experience - Completion of a Parkland Workforce Development Training Program may substitute for the required education and experience. Certification/Registration/Licensure Required Tests for Placement Skills or Special Abilities - Must be able to work collaboratively with colleagues to deliver patient/customer services that exceed patient expectations as evidenced by patient satisfaction scores. - Must be able to demonstrate competency required as applicable to the specialty area. - Must have demonstrated communication skills to include above-average verbal skills (heavy public contact) and written skills. - Bilingual skills preferred. - Must have familiarity with diagnostic ICD-9-CM coding and HCPCS-CPT4 procedure codes. - Must have working knowledge of medical terminology. - Must be able to demonstrate basic clerical skills and working knowledge of standard office equipment. - Must be detail-oriented and have sharp analytical skills to resolve registration issues as related to multiple groups, including third-party payors, physicians, patients, and the system. - Must be able to solve problems within the guidelines of established policies and procedures. - Must be able to adjust to multiple demands, shifting priorities, and rapid change. Virtual Care Only - Must be able to work collaboratively and optimally with patients with serious health conditions and barriers to care. - Must be able to recognize and escalate clinical decision-making to appropriate team members of the multidisciplinary team. - Must demonstrate strength in documenting within an electronic health record with the ability to effectively problem-solve when faced with decision-making challenges and escalate as appropriate. - Confident with technology, specifically electronic medical records, video encounters, and computer applications. Responsibilities - Proficiently performs patient service activities in coordination with the clinical team, including but not limited to - Ensures patient and family comfort, safety, privacy, and confidentiality at all times. - Adapts work methods to specifically accommodate the population-specific care needs (physical, psychosocial, cultural, age/developmental) of each patient. - Greets patients and families, making them feel welcome and wanted. - Assists patients and families with directions, inquiries, and information as requested. - Ensures needs are addressed satisfactorily. - Keeps patients and families informed about wait times and any other factors that may affect the visit. - Stays cognizant of clinical/area needs to facilitate patient care and flow. - Assess patient experience at the end of each visit to determine if patient needs were met. Virtual Care Only - Proactively outreaches to patients using motivational interviewing, demonstrating effective, caring communication to build patient trust and establish and maintain relationships to gather information, encourage patient self-interest in healthcare, and follow up on patient-established goals. - Assists patients and families with health system navigation, making appointments, patient advocacy, determination of community resources to reduce barriers to care, and support set-up and initiation of electronic communication modes (email, MyChart, etc.). - Coordinates clinic/area activities and facilitates business processes in accordance with standards. - Performs pre-visit activities to gather patient information from internal and external service or entities, ensuring it is available to the clinic team for the visit. - Checks the patient into the clinic. - Correctly identify the patient prior to performing tasks. - Reviews and updates patient accounts to ensure registration and coverage are up to date and complete. - Confirms or verifies coverage as needed. - Identifies and refers patients for financial counseling as appropriate. - Performs upfront cash collections; receives, verifies, and posts money transactions following Parkland cash management policies and procedures. All monies must be accounted for through the patient accounting system and/or the point-of-sale system. - Verifies and completes daily reconciliations that ensure cash transactions are handled accurately and that deposits are made daily. - Assists with the process of internal and external appointments, referrals, and information retrieval. - Schedules appointments in accordance with the clinical team's directives and the patient's desires/availability. - Performs charge capture and charge reconciliation to ensure encounters are complete and closed in a timely manner. Virtual Care Only - Collaborates with a multidisciplinary team to improve patient access to care and reduce avoidable organizational utilization. - Documents (paper or electronic) completely, accurately, legibly, and timely. - Ensures applicable documentation is obtained for registration and patient visit. - Provides an explanation for all requested forms to ensure patient understanding. - Performs data entry/documentation of patient care intake information. - Virtual Care Only - Performs data entry/documentation of patient encounter. - Assists with the maintenance of clinic supplies and equipment. - Assists with stocking and inventory of supplies, as appropriate. - Keeps appropriate persons informed of the status of supplies and equipment. - Completes requisition documentation for supplies, equipment, and services, as applicable. - Practices patient safety measures and, in association with site leadership: - Complies with proper hand hygiene (hand washing/hand sanitizer gel/foam use). - Applies or practices proper infection control methods. - Identifies, corrects, and/or reports safety hazards at the time of discovery. - Identifies and/or facilitates maintenance of equipment, initiates work order requests, and removes equipment from the patient care area, as appropriate. - Informs Environmental Services when additional cleaning activities are needed. Virtual Care Only - Elevates critical incidents and information regarding any quality-of-care concerns to the multidisciplinary team. - Participates in performance improvement and quality initiatives. - Participates in the unit performance improvement initiatives. - Meets expected performance quality measures as outlined for area(s) or responsibility. - Based on operational need, you may be required to perform the role in an alternate Parkland location.