Patient Access Associate - FT - D/E (11A-7P) - LHDCMC

The Patient Access Associate (PAA) is a hospital-based, non-clinical healthcare professional who serves as the first point of contact for patients. In this pivotal role, the PAR ensures a positive patient experience during the registration and admission processes by accurately collecting essential demographic and financial information.

1. Patient Identification and Documentation:

· Greet patients and visitors courteously and professionally.

· Accurately identify patients in the Master Patient Index to reduce erroneous duplicate medical records, maintaining a 98% accuracy rate in medical record creation.

· Update demographics per legal identification.

· Verify the information on armbands before placing them on patients.

· Explain all required documents verbally, obtain signatures appropriately, and document any inability to obtain signatures correctly, including immediate scanning into EMR, per process.

· Process all ‘unable to sign’ consents per process, including following legal algorithms to research and communicate with patient contacts to obtain appropriate surrogate; escalate to next steps (Care Management) when unable to find surrogate.

2. Patient Registration and Insurance Verification:

· Conduct face-to-face interviews to accurately obtain and process patient demographic and financial information, maintaining a minimum accuracy rate of 97% for error-free registrations.

· Process and act on Real-Time Eligibility (RTE) messages, including adding, terminating, and correcting coverages.

· Identify all true self-pay patients accurately and forward to Medicaid eligibility and application staff, ensuring only true self-pay patients are screened.

· Scan all required documents into patient records and place HAR notes on accounts when necessary.

· Identify and resolve insurance verification issues, informing patients of available options, including financial assistance.

3. Regulatory Compliance and Customer Service:

· Ensure all patients receive necessary regulatory information and enter appropriate documentation in the EMR (e.g., HIPAA, Patient Rights Brochure, IMM, NOOS, ABN, etc.).

· Explain hospital policies, procedures, and financial responsibilities to patients and their families, providing excellent customer service.

4. Appointment Scheduling:

· Schedule appointments, surgeries, and other medical procedures according to patient and provider preferences. <p class=