Practice Coordinator

Ward 86, a renowned HIV Primary Care Clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, is actively seeking a compassionate and highly motivated individual to join our team as a Practice Coordinator 2 (PC 2). In this impactful role, you will have the opportunity to provide exceptional care and support to a diverse patient population, making a meaningful difference in their lives. Under the supervision of the Practice Manager and in collaboration with our wonderful team of medical providers, nurses, and other health care professionals, you will play a crucial role in delivering care to patients at Ward 86 and affiliated clinical programs. Collaborating closely with clinical team members, you will actively contribute to the care of individuals living with HIV, people experiencing homelessness, people who use substances, and individuals with high psychosocial complexity.

The Practice Coordinator 2 (PC 2) is primarily responsible for representing the administrative team as the public face of the clinical operation and works closely with the administrative, clinical and management teams to support practice operations, patient service recovery, and intervention efforts. The individual provides support to all functions of the administrative teams including but not limited to CRM messages, telephone encounters, referrals, Epic in-baskets, scanning, filing, authorizations, and billing. Under supervision, the individual will perform a variety of technical duties in the screening, determination of patient eligibility, scheduling, and registration of patient for outpatient services. The individual is responsible for operating within well-defined rules and regulations pertaining to screening patients for eligibility and registering patients for services. The individual will have regular and frequent contact with patients, their families, and hospital personnel. 

The PC 2 is responsible for the maintenance of all routine clerical operations and communications. They adhere to the UCSF Campus Standards and are sensitive to the needs of patients, staff, and providers at all times. The PC 2 is a team player who works closely with others and who is flexible in dealing with the changing priorities. They are a self-reliant individual who synthesizes their knowledge of practice operations in order to problem-solve, prioritize, and facilitate complex transactions in the course of their daily activities.

This position makes a difference for patients in an outpatient care unit by providing excellent customer service, facilitating, and ensuring the accuracy of the information flow between medical, hospital staff, and departments to maximize unit efficiency.

ABOUT WARD 86 CLINIC 

Ward 86, the HIV/AIDS Clinic at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) campus has been a leader and innovator in field of HIV care since the beginning of the epidemic. Ward 86 is the largest clinic providing primary medical care for people living with HIV for the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN) and also provide preventive services to patients at-risk for HIV infection, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Ward 86 provides care to approximately 2500 patients living with HIV, with over 24,000 clinical encounters a year. Services are offered through a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach, addressing primary medical and HIV care, urgent care, mental health evaluation and treatment, substance use assessment, treatment and referrals, HIV prevention services, and HIV specialty care needs (including on-site Pulmonary, Dermatology and Cardiology clinics), and psycho-social assessment and interventions.

ABOUT DIVISION OF HIV, INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND GLOBAL HEALTH

The Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is an internationally recognized global leader in clinical care, research, and education. With its home-base located at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), the Division has been ranked as the top facility in the country for AIDS care since 1983. The Division’s work is featured frequently in the media, and it is often visited by numerous international, national, state, and local dignitaries and delegations. The Division consists of approximately 38 faculty members, 16 fellows/postdoctoral scholars and 170 academic and staff employees. It is the largest Division of the Department of Medicine (DOM) at ZSFG, with a total expenditure budget of approximately $52 million dollars.

Responsibilities

% 

of time

Essential Function (Yes/No)

Key Responsibilities

(To be completed by Supervisor)

5

YES

New Patient Scheduling and Processing

• On a daily basis reviews and works referral work queues documenting activities within the referral record. 
• Acts as a contact for referring physicians and new patients
• If practice utilizes a mirror system for external referrals, such as an electronic log, maintains electronic log but also creates referral record for accurate tracking and documenting of external referrals.
• Assigns new patients to providers as needed.
• Schedules and registers patients by telephone or in person before first appointment, meeting established accuracy and performance standards. 
• Completes appropriate practice intake paperwork and follows established practice guidelines to ensure new patients are seen within prescribed timelines.  Communicates any problems with the schedule with supervisor.
• Collects and verifies insurance and referral/authorization information for first appointment ensuring referral records and Hospital Accounts Records (HARS) are created and assigned to the appointment. 
• Schedules and coordinates any pre-appointment tests or appointments.
• Explains first appointment procedures in layman’s terminology to patient including required records. Prepares and mails New Patient Packet or sends through MyChart; provides other information requested by patient. 
• Gives directions and instructions to patients before the first appointment.  Manages patient expectations by providing practice-specific guidelines related to service/visit. Seeks clinical input when appropriate.
• Creates a professional and positive first impression for patients and referring physicians. Demonstrates good judgment and common sense.

10

YES

Check In / Front Desk

• Greets and welcomes patients making eye contact and utilizing ICARE standards.
• Determines a patient’s co-pay obligation and collects it at the time of the visit; may also collect payments on patient accounts.
• Gives priority to the timely registration of patients on check-in and is aware of the necessity of maintaining practice flow, paying careful attention to the performance improvement initiatives to reduce delays. 
• Communicates with patients in a confidential professional manner using tact and diplomacy.
• Monitors and maintains the reception area, making sure it is tidy and there is adequate availability of reading and educational materials. Ensures that the temperature of the reception area is comfortable and that there is adequate and appropriate seating for all patients.
• Observes the waiting area and performs customer service intervention when patients have been waiting a long time or are not receiving adequate service 

10

YES

Administrative and Patient Care Coordination Responsibilities

• Schedules established patient appointments using Epic and its related components. 
• Understands the distinction of each medical practice and how care is delivered in each setting.
• Coordinates appointments with multiple providers as required.
• Discusses practice policies and procedures with patients and referring physicians.
• Answers questions about provider schedules and acts as a resource to other medical center practices and ancillary service administrative staff. 
• Has a keen awareness of the need to provide prompt and convenient appointment access to patients.
• Adheres to the provider productivity standards as established in Epic templates for the practice and schedules appointments with the appropriate appointment type.
• Triages all telephone calls, screening for emergencies and routing all messages, requests for same day appointments, refill requests, etc. to the appropriate box.
• Utilizes legacy systems and Epic to retrieve pertinent patient data.
• Follows practice procedure for follow-up of missed appointments.
• Covers Epic in-baskets and phone messages when other members of the team are absent.
• Demonstrates an ability to adjust priorities as required for smooth operation of the practice and notifies the clinical staff.
• Provides administrative support to providers in coordination of patient care (i.e. sending patient letters, educational materials, results of lab tests, etc.)
• Schedules procedures and tests providing appropriate instructions to patients.
• Collaborates with clinical staff in problem-solving patient needs and requests for same day appointments and other appointments requiring care coordination.  Works together with the clinical staff in the processing and follow-through of urgent patient needs.
• Demonstrates courtesy and overt helpfulness in all interactions. Collaborates with Practice Supervisor and Administrative Director in the resolution of patient complaints.
• Assists in maintaining current filing and scanning.

10

YES

Moderately Complex Administrative and Patient Care Coordination Responsibilities

• Must have an understanding of multiple clinical symptoms and their associated escalation level with a commonsense approach for when it is appropriate to escalate or take action to speed along a process within the practice or to obtain immediate clinical intervention. 
• Advanced customer service skills in working with and providing exceptional customer service to patients who are medication dependent and may exhibit challenging behaviors. This includes understanding how to deescalate a difficult encounter and also when to seek additional support from leadership and to protect the safety of the work environment.

5

YES

Cadence Template Builder

• Able to create Cadence schedule templates for providers as directed
• Understands how template construction effects access and works to ensure templates are user friendly and help promote consistent clinic access.
• Able to generate reschedule reports in Cadence and work with other members of administrative team to ensure patients are rescheduled in a timely manner to avoid customer service problems.

5

YES

Epic and IT Specific Skills

• Performs the following Epic specific Patient Care Coordinator (PCC) functions as appropriate to completion of Epic PCC training and job duties: 
  • Enters new incoming referrals entering authorization information as appropriate
  • Updates and closes CRM messages and converting CRM messages into telephone encounters if practice is serviced by the Ambulatory Services Call Center 
  • Opens, documents within, routes and closes telephone encounters. Able to accurately utilize documentation steps when leaving a telephone encounter open pending further communications with the caller
  • Works applicable Epic work queues to address patient care and service matters
  • Creates and sends administrative communications via MyChart
  • Creates SmartPhrase templates associated with administrative functions
  • Creates and routes patient letters associated with administrative matters
  • Opens, documents within, routes and closes telephone encounters. Able to accurately utilize documentation steps with leaving a telephone encounter open pending further communications with the caller. Able to utilize smart text logic to document patient phone screening as associated with complex appointment scheduling.
  • Works applicable Epic work queues to address patient care and service matters
  • Pends orders (including med refills, referrals, procedures etc.) associates with a diagnosis and routes to provider for review and signature (from preference list only)
  • Pends Smart Sets with proper orders and diagnosis and routes to provider for review and signature
  • Modifies order class of labs from lab collection vs. clinic collection or UCSF Collect vs. External Collect.
  • Performs advanced appointment scheduling using complex scheduling protocols from a variety of ancillary and subspecialty services some of which will require authorization. 
  • Supports Patient-Centered Medical Home, Standard 1 guidelines that require patients have daily available appointment access to the practice and if no appointments are available coordinate them at another site or within Adult or Pediatric Urgent Care. 

5

YES

Moderate Complex Epic and IT Specific Skills 

5

YES

Phone Bank

• Responds to telephone calls from patients seeking medical care at UCSF Campus and within San Francisco Health Network.       
• Utilizes the EPIC Appointment Scheduling System (Cadence) to schedule patient appointments in accordance with practice policy.
• Documents call information in the EPIC CRM in a concise, accurate manner.
• Is able to convert CRM messages to telephone encounters according to practice guidelines and workflows
• Responds to patient’s online Web appointment requests for patients utilizing the online appointment system.
• Utilizes Phone Bank protocols to determine when to involve a clinician on a call due to urgent or emergent symptomatology.

5

YES

General Performance

• As assigned, pulls and prepares charts prior to patient appointment following established practice criteria. 
• Files all patient related information, tracks incoming slides, films and reports as required by practice; returns materials to referring physicians in a timely manner utilizing tracking systems. 
• Scans and imports patient records and documents in Epic system following established guidelines and policies.
• Upholds UCSF Campus and SFDPH policy regarding the maintenance and confidentiality of medical records and other patient information. Maintains and adheres to patient confidentiality and HIPAA guidelines including the distribution of NOPPs (Notice of Privacy Practices).
• Participates in team building by actively contributing during meetings and with staff and providers in discussion of all practice activities.
• Attends training classes provided by UCSF Campus, SFDPH/Billing Agent, and others as necessary. Brings information back to practice and uses on the job.
• Works with supervisor and co-workers to ensure that the practice responds comprehensively to patient care needs through improved procedures and administrative systems.  Is an active participant in performance improvement projects and customer service initiatives.
• Complies with all Campus and Ambulatory Services procedures for infection control, safety, administrative and clinical practice. Complies with activities mandated by The Joint Commission and Title 22 standards.
• As assigned, fills in for other co-workers to help address workload problems and cover vacation or sick leave openings. 
• Maintains provider calendars
• When working in a primary care practice, assists with the delivery and maintenance of a high standard of patient care using the Patient Centered Medical Home model which emphasizes the care of the “whole patient” which includes in-reach, outreach and intensive follow up on referrals. 
• When working within the primary care environment acts as the coordinator for all of patient’s needs such as forms (ie. work release, disability, immunization records, etc.) and is principally responsible for the continuity of care for patients which includes a significant amount of support for patients at the time of the visit and between visits. 
• Provides 1:1 and team training for new hires and new initiatives and procedures

5

YES

Moderately Complex General Performance

5

YES

Environmental Responsibilities

• Reports any malfunctioning of equipment.
• Complies with recommendations made by ergonomic specialists to avoid workplace injury
• Complies with infection control policies related (e.g. does not eat at the front desk or in-patient care areas)
• Serves as practice deputy for life / safety activities helps lead drills

5

YES

Moderate Complex Environmental Responsibilities 

5

YES

Revenue Cycle 

• Performs cash collection and depositing functions as assigned, complying with all established policies and procedures.
• Communicates SFHN administrative and financial policies clearly to patients, answering patient account questions and knowing when to refer patients to financial counseling, billing agents, patient relations or other support departments for additional help.
• Obtains and documents insurance authorizations for established patient visits, referrals and procedures or ancillary services. Communicates clinical information from medical records authorization requests to insurance companies. 
• Demonstrates competency working with CPT codes and ICD-9 and ICD-10 for the purpose of scheduling and securing authorization.
• Works with patients and staff to confirm availability and accuracy of medical information within Epic and to ensure compliance with all hospital policies and procedures.

5

YES

Moderate Complex Revenue Cycle 

• Monitors provider(s) open charts and encounters and works with providers to complete encounter documentation in a timely manner to support revenue cycle workflow. May assist provider with instructions on how to close encounters opened in error. 
• Works RFI work queues to secure information for accurate billing submissions or to respond to denials such as retro authorizations, clinical documentation, and addended authorizations with add on CPT codes. 
• Secures authorization for procedures, specialty visits and ancillary testing and coordinates with Hospital Admissions Department as needed

5

YES

Customer Service Outreach

• Deals directly with patients either by telephone, electronically or face to face while consistently following ICARE principles in verbal and written communications
• Responds promptly and courteously to internal and external inquiries. Stays logged into appropriate Epic Pools and In Baskets.
• Handles front line patient complaints with the support of the Practice Supervisor / Administrative Director
• Supports all performance improvement initiatives as outlined by the Campus leadership through active participation and initiation
• Obtains and evaluates all relevant information to handle inquiries and complaints 
• They are a strong team player, have a dedicated work ethic, and is willing to learn and adapt to new tasks when asked.  They are comfortable building rapport with patients quickly and are able to work effectively with and without supervision and remain calm and friendly in all interactions with patients 
• Notifies providers of patient delays and service issues.        Acts and advocate for patients to help facilitate provider punctuality in seeing patients according to schedule.
• Communicates provider delays with front office team and makes regular announcements to waiting room as needed when delays are over 30 minutes.
• Offers suggestions for change or improvement in clinic/practice operations.   
• They lead by example in the areas of professional appearance, demeanor and body language, making eye contact with patients and internal customers, exhibit a friendly demeanor to put patients at ease.       
• Seeks opportunities to improve patient convenience.        Utilizes service recovery amenities as appropriate.  Contributes to the development of a patient-focused environment.

5

YES

Other Functions and Responsibilities 

• Demonstrates innovation and flexibility regarding the modification of tasks or workflows within assigned duties and job functions

• Perform other duties as assigned

• Other clerical duties as assigned.

5

YES

Living Pride Standards

Service Excellence

1. Demonstrates service excellence by following the Everyday PRIDE Guide with the UCSF Campus standards and expectations for communication and behavior. These standards and expectations convey specific behavior associated with the Campus values: Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence, and provide guidance on how we communicate with patients, visitors, faculty, staff, and students, virtually everyone, every day and with every encounter. These standards include, but are not limited to: personal appearance, acknowledging and greeting all patients and families, introductions using ICARE, managing up, service recovery, managing delays and expectations, phone standards, electronic communication, team work, cultural sensitivity and competency.   
2. Uses effective communication skills with patients and staff; demonstrates proper telephone techniques and etiquette; acts as an escort to any patient or family member needing directions; shows sensitivity to differences of culture; demonstrates a positive and supportive manner in which patients / families/ colleagues perceive interactions as positive and supportive. Exhibits teamwork skills to positively acknowledge and recognize other colleagues and uses personal experiences to model and teach Living PRIDE standards.  

• Exhibits tact and professionalism in difficult situations according to PRIDE Values and Practices
• Demonstrates an understanding of and adheres to privacy, confidentiality, and security policies and procedures related to Protected Health Information (PHI) or other sensitive and personal information.
• Demonstrates an understanding of and adheres to safety and infection control policies and procedures.
• Assumes accountability for improving quality metrics associated with department/unit and meeting organizational/departmental targets. 

Work Environment

• Keeps working areas neat, orderly and clutter-free, including the hallways.  Adheres to cleaning processes and puts things back where they belong. Removes and reports broken equipment and furniture.
• Picks up and disposes of any litter found throughout entire facility. 
• Posts flyers and posters in designated areas only; does not post on walls, doors or windows.
• Knows where the Environment of Care Manual is kept in department; corrects or reports unsafe conditions to the appropriate departments. 
• Protects the physical environment and equipment from damage and theft.

100%

 

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Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• High school graduate or equivalent with 4 years of related experience; or college degree and 6 months of related experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Fluency in Spanish – ability to communicate effectively with monolingual patients
• Strong writing skills to include the ability to compose, edit, and proof a wide variety of documents
• Demonstrated administrative/office coordination skills
• Demonstrated knowledge of medical practice terminology
• Basic math skills
• Ability to deal sensitively and effectively with patients
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills
• Successfully passes fingerprinting protocol and is approved to be a cash collector
• Strong computer skills, including basic keyboarding skills, and experience with at least two Office-type software programs (i.e., Outlook, Word and Excel). Proven ability to navigate through multiple patient records systems
• Ability to analyze situations, prioritizes tasks, and develops solutions and make recommendations
• Ability to work with minimal supervision 
• Ability to use good judgment and work independently at times under the pressure of deadlines 
• Excellent customer service and communication/interpersonal skills, both over the telephone and directly
• Proven ability to deal with a wide variety of individuals
• Within 6 months of start date, based upon completion of training, the Supervisor completes the proficiency checklist with the employee. This includes the following areas if applicable 
  • Referrals (Incoming referral entry) and handling all referral WQs
  • Pend orders
  • Pend smart sets
  • Schedule surgeries
  • Work applicable work queues
  • Messaging (CRM) if applicable
  • 2nd calls in CRM if applicable
  • Telephone encounters
  • My open encounter
  • Staff message
  • New message
  • Route Patient advice request to providers (My Chart) 
  • Patient Schedule (My Chart)
  • Letters
  • Pools
  • Patient look up
  • Check in process
  • Check out process
  • Comment field
  • Quick note
  • Scanning

Preferred Qualifications:

• SFDPH Eligibility Basics certification
• Demonstrated experience in health care (may include medical, dental or veterinary) in the following areas:  patient scheduling, insurance verification, medial record data abstraction, or patient financial services
• Prior experience with appointment, ancillary service or surgical scheduling or a combination of all three
• Prior experience with EPIC
• Knowledge of community-based HIV service agencies and HIV specific assistance programs 
• Work experience of providing services to HIV+ individuals in a clinic-based setting