"Patient Services Associate"

Department Summary

As a student service, UHS reports through Student Life (SL). Our mission is to promote and protect the health and well-being of students and the broader campus community, to enable individuals to better achieve their educational and personal goals. While college health is 75 - 80% of our caseload, we also see UM faculty and staff. We have a talented and cohesive team of clinical and administrative professionals who take pride in the privilege of providing health care and wellness education to our Michigan students, staff and others.

Job Summary

Provide detail-oriented clerical support to the UHS Business Office and clinical operations in an ambulatory care setting. Facilitate the flow of patient business activity, including pre-service review on scheduled patient accounts. Manage cashier functions such as pre- & post visit payment collections, payment postings, and other patient account functions. This role provides significant direct customer service, and on the staff side collaborates primarily with the business office and Administrative leadership. Strong emphasis is maintained regarding accuracy and quality of carrier information, as well as other demographics that promote a 'one & done' service interface. Duties also include contact with others on the patient care team including Health Information Management (HIM) as registration questions or other concerns may arise.

Business Office - 60%

• Deliver, collect, and reconcile cash bags daily
• Prepare funds deposit per Business office guidelines.
• Payment posting, received in person and/or by mail.
• Request and verify patient eligibility & UM Student current enrollment status, create appropriate guarantors for patient accounts
• Perform a variety of clerical duties including to receive & disperse cash from and to customers and employees
• Identify and resolve insurance coverage and UHS health service fee discrepancies such as patient/subscriber name and date of birth mismatches
• Offer and/or obtain signatures for consents/forms eg. notice of privacy practices, assignment of medical benefits, general consent to receive healthcare services, advance directive, depression/alcohol screening forms & waivers
• Maintain Prepaid Plan Sales log and DME sales log by Department
• Student Accounts for Pharmacy/other Departments as possible
• Update billing providers for NP's and PA's
• Post undistributed monies from MiChart
• Answer billing questions for walk-in clients
• Back-up phone coverage
• Maintain bad address and return mail procedure
• Perform reconciliation of contact lens insurance billing procedure for Davis Vision, enter charges and payments
• Monitor appropriate workqueues
• Assign proper billing providers, assign appropriate guarantors
• Apply appropriate insurance to claims in self pay or student status

Clinic Operations- 30%

• Proactively build relationships with patients through education and guidance, including regular contact in order to assist in identifying barriers to care.
• Basic front desk responsibilities pertaining to Patient Check-in/Check-out, registration and scheduling
• Screen patients for navigation needs (UHS logistics) per campus requirements
• Clerical support services
• Coordinate and refer as needed to Managed Care and Health Information Management
• Copay/Fee collections, pre and post visit as directed. Includes visit and procedure fees, past due balances, supplies and other charges
• Update and manage patient financials, including pre-registration work-queue- via paper or system documents
• Use patient portal for communications when indicated

Other = 10%

• Provide support to other members of the UHS team, per request/based on needs in workload leveling
• Offer as possible, provide backup support to other Patient Account Representatives
• Perform other special projects, clerical support and duties as assigned

Required Qualifications

• High School Diploma or equivalent
• Two years of experience in an outpatient medical setting
• One year of experience in cash handling
• Knowledge of medical terminology
• Proficient computer and data entry skills as well as basic mathematical skills

Working Conditions

This position is typically, 8am - 5pm on weekdays, with potential for intermittent Saturday coverage during fall & winter terms.

Physical Requirements

This role is front facing to our patients and families, at times on the phone, though primarily spent at a desk.

Supervision Received

Administrative supervision is provided by the Business office Cashiering supervisor, with some functional interface from the Billing Manager