Medical Clinic Scheduler

TX-HHSC-DSHS-DFPS • San Antonio, TX

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Would you thrive in an environment where you learn and grow personally and professionally all while helping make a positive impact on people’s lives? Do you appreciate being around others like yourself who are dependable, trustworthy, hard workers who believe in the value of teamwork? HSCS is dedicated to building an atmosphere where employees feel valued and supported while providing specialized care for Texans in need. HSCS is comprised of nine psychiatric hospitals, one youth residential treatment facility, and thirteen state supported living centers. The psychiatric hospitals are a hub of excellence for forensic mental health and complex psychiatric care, with all facilities accredited by The Joint Commission. They provide state-of-the-art treatment that is recovery-oriented and science-based. If providing hope and healing through compassionate, innovative, and individualized care interests you, we welcome your application for the position below.

The Medical Clinic Scheduler works under the general supervision of the Nurse Manager, with moderate latitude for the use initiative and of independent judgment. Coordinates and schedules all outside medical appointments or treatments. Maintains and/or creates tracking systems to track consents, surgery approvals, appointment requests, records requests, records receipt, and follow-up visits. Coordinates with medical staff providers to ensure orders are entered in CWS (the electronic medical record), including special instructions for appointments, and notifies individual’s unit of the special instructions. Communicates appointment information with various departments to ensure staffing and transportation needs are met. Assembles information for the scheduling and trip packets. Processes return packets from outside providers and follows up as needed. Processes and tracks information for surgery approvals prior to procedure, including obtaining cost from the surgeon and surgical facility. Maintains a current provider list of physicians accepting patients, to include: information necessary to request an appointment, obtain medical records and consents, and documentation of the provider’s contracting status. On a limited basis, locates new providers willing to treat hospital patients. Trains and monitors support staff designated as back-up to the Scheduler, including the development of training materials, and reporting any issues to the staff supervisor. Responds to all inquiries about appointments, consults, consents, or any other requested information in a courteous and timely manner. Acts as support and cross-trains for other duties as needed or directed by the Scheduler’s supervisor.

Performs other duties as assigned. Other duties as assigned include but are not limited to actively participating and/or serving in a supporting role to meet the agency’s obligations for disaster response and/or recovery or Continuity of Operations (COOP) activation. Such participation may require an alternate shift pattern assignment and/or location. Must understand that duties, location of work, and shift pattern are subject to change as determined by the administration to meet the needs of the hospital. Must understand that the duties may include exposure to blood and other potential infectious material.

Requirements

• Knowledge of office practices and procedures.
• Knowledge of HIPAA standards and hospital privacy policy regarding electronic communication formats.
• Skill in the use of standard office equipment and software.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office application.
• Ability to implement administrative procedures; to interpret rules, regulations, policies, and procedures; to communicate effectively; and to train others.
• Ability to develop and implement tracking systems.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the public as well as supervisors, co-workers, and various departments within the hospital.
• At least two (2) years’ experience in a professional support role.

Responsibilities

• Attends work on a regular basis and may be asked to work a specific shift schedule or, at times, even a rotating schedule, extended shift and/or overtime in accordance with agency leave policy and performs other duties as assigned.
• Coordinates and schedules all appointments with outside medical offices and hospitals. Compiles the initial scheduling request packets with appropriate medical data, patient demographics, insurance or billing information, consents to treat, and orders. Reviews all return paperwork for follow-up visits or further testing/specialist care tracking to verify that all follow-ups and testing are scheduled in a timely manner. Communicates with provider offices via fax and phone to schedule, reschedule, verify appointment instructions, schedule follow-ups, resolve conflicts, and provide/coordinate any other necessary information to ensure patient care.
• Maintains or develops (as needed) tracking systems to track consents, surgery approvals, appointment requests, records requests, records receipt, follow-up visits, and scheduled appointments. Tracking systems include electronic databases as well as hard copy files. Requires attention to detail and accuracy as the information is used by various hospital departments for the purpose of reimbursement, transport and staffing in order to ensure patient care.
• Coordinates with the medical providers to ensure all appropriate orders for outside appointments are entered in CWS, including any special appointment instructions. Coordinates with outside provider offices to request and distribute information to the medical providers. Verifies the orders are entered into CWS and notifies the unit nursing staff the day before the appointment.
• Communicates appointment information with various departments within the hospital. Notifies medical providers, psychiatrist, recovery teams, social workers, nurses, clients rights, and any other departments about appointments. Replies to inquiries about outside appointments to various hospital departments in a timely and professional manner. Notifies transport of transportation needs including early notification of overnight or nonstandard appointments. Provides timely notification to security of any off-campus patient transfers that require secondary notification to local or national law enforcement before transport, including all emergency transfers.
• Assembles outside referral packets accompanying each patient to an outside appointment in advance of the appointment and notifies security when complete.
• Reviews and processes return packets from outside providers. The paperwork must be date stamped, copied, and distributed to the appropriate Medical Clinic provider or covering provider immediately upon the patient’s return. Distributes paperwork to the Med Room Nurses, psychiatrist, and recovery team. Original paperwork to be sent to patient’s chart after medical review. Reviews paperwork and provides follow-up notification. Tracks requests for additional testing/labs and faxes information back to the requesting office when completed. Reviews and maintains copies of return information to ensure orders have been entered into the electronic record system before hard copies can be destroyed.
• Requests, tracks, and documents in CWS all attempts to obtain outside provider consult reports within the timeframes designated by hospital policy and procedure. Continues to request, by phone, reports not received after the initial request. Ensures CWS and tracking systems are updated to reflect report received and date received. Verifies reports to prevent duplicate reports from being distributed to the providers for review.
• Processes and tracks information for surgery approvals including obtaining procedure codes, diagnosis codes, and estimated fees from the specialist office. Obtains estimated hospital/anesthesia fees from where the surgery is being scheduled (must have HCPCS/ICD-10 code). Obtains projected length of stay. Verifies insurance benefits (if applicable) with reimbursement and notifies outside hospitals/provider offices if insurance is available for presurgical precertification as needed. Obtains surgical consents to treat pre-surgery to ensure patient consent/ understanding of procedure and maintains file copy. Inserts copies in the individual’s electronic files, notes in CWS, and forwards copies to be included in the individual’s hard copy chart. Completes the Surgery Approval Request form, submits to appropriate personnel, tracks to verify approval prior to procedure. Updates the denial/approval in the tracking system, notes in CWS, forwards to the patient’s hard copy chart, and notifies appropriate staff of the outcome.
• Maintains and updates outside provider contact list, to include specialty location of practice, contact phone number/fax for appointments, special instructions, nursing contact (if applicable to specialty), current contract information, and information for area hospitals including departments such as ER, Radiology, etc. As necessary, locates providers not currently on the contact list.
• Trains and monitors the accuracy of the designated back-up scheduler to include development of training materials as needed, explaining the tracking systems and processes, understanding hospital policy and procedures and audit practices, and reports performance of back-up to the staff’s supervisor.
• Fields inquiries for post-visit medical records/accounting requests. Assists with reconciling responses to all request for reports or verification of trip status. Researches and responds to accounting regarding the validity of the charges based on trip description, services billed, and verifies charges are being billed as the correct patient.
• Performs other duties as assigned. Other duties as assigned include but are not limited to actively participating and/or serving in a supporting role to meet the agency’s obligations for disaster response and/or recovery or Continuity of Operations (COOP) activation. Such participation may require an alternate shift pattern assignment and/or location.

Benefits

• Our comprehensive benefits package includes 100% paid employee health insurance for full-time eligible employees, a defined benefit pension plan, generous time off benefits, numerous opportunities for career advancement and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed