Terrace Pediatric Group

JOB DESCRIPTION: MEDICAL RECEPTIONIST & Insurance Verifier

Overall Responsibilities:

To carry out a range of reception and administrative tasks in relation to the day-to-day running of the practice’s reception area.

Accountability: All the Physicians and the Front Office Manager.

Specific Duties:

1. Reception duties

• Greeting patients politely and ensuring that the appointment system is run efficiently, monitor the flow of patients to and from consulting rooms, managing queues through telephone and face to face interaction.
• Ensure patients are informed if a doctor is running late or called out.
• Ensure “urgent extras” are monitored with appropriate guidance.
• Advise patients of relevant charges for non-NHS services, accept payment and issue receipt for same.
• Explain practice arrangements and requirements for new and temporary patients. Give new patients the “new patient pack” and invite them in for a simple medical check up.
• Respond to all queries and requests for assistance from patients and other visitors to the practice as appropriate.
• Enter requests for home visits into the day book, including all relevant information. Deal efficiently with emergency situations.
• Maintain a supply of relevant bags, bottles and stationery to keep consulting rooms stocked; ensure rooms have adequate supplies.
• Keep reception areas clean and tidy.
• Handle specimens as per practice protocol.

2. Management of appointment system

• Maintain working knowledge of the appointment system i.e. times of all clinics, duration of appointments, knowledge of computer system, doctors rotas, procedures for booking routine and urgent appointments.
• Book appointments accurately and appropriately, initialing data entries.
• Monitor daily available appointments and report any overload to supervisor as appropriate. Ensure sufficient appointments are blocked off for urgent and triage appointments.
• The Insurance Verifier reviews and evaluates patient’s insurance coverage after obtaining the benefits from an interview process. The Insurance Verifier documents individual patient benefits into the database repositories for insurance data which serve as the databases for communicating benefit information to both prospective and current patients and for insuring accurate and complete billing, correct reimbursement rates, pre-certification requirements, and maximized collections. The Insurance Verifier reports to the Front Office Manager.

3. Management of medical records and administration

• Ensure medical records are kept accurately in alphabetical order, in easily retrievable fashion and kept tidy.
• Retrieve and refile records as required by team/clinical/admin staff.
• Carry out scanning of clinical documents as per written procedures, ensuring accuracy of appending to electronic patient record.
• Ensure efficient storage of scanned letters for confidential destruction.

4. Operation of telephone system

• Receive and make calls as required. Divert calls and take messages as appropriate, recording information for Doctors to action (home visits, phone calls etc.)
• Ensure phones are accurately transferred to and from night duty service by programming the switchboard to set procedures.

5. Information Security

• Ensure that all patient interactions are dealt with confidentially and any confidential paperwork is dealt with in accordance with practice protocol.

6. Patient Liaison

• Provide non clinical patient care, dealing with requests for information, test results, requests to speak to clinical staff, ensuring confidentiality and privacy for patients.
• Ensure patients have access to any relevant leaflets, support groups, careers association etc.

7. Information technology and audit duties

• Maintain working knowledge of computer/clinical system, reporting any problems to information officer/assistant manager.
• Adhere to practice policies regarding security and confidentiality, records management roles and responsibilities and computer skills.
• Respond to and action Practice Notes.

Minimum Qualifications:

Must be a high school graduate or equivalent with strong analytical skills and good figure aptitude.

Must have minimum of one-year experience in registration, collection, and verification in a healthcare setting/or similar customer service position.

Knowledge and Skills:

Must have basic knowledge of medical terminology.

Must have good written and verbal communication skills.

Must have outstanding telephone communication and customer service skills.

Must be able to perform routine mathematical, color coding and alphabetizing functions.

Must have excellent organizational skills and be able to manage multiple priorities and responsibilities.

Must be efficient, reliable, flexible, goal oriented and adaptable to change; while maintaining high productivity levels. Must be team oriented.