Job Abstract

The Lead Scheduling Coordinator fulfills a variety of leadership scheduling coordinator roles to provide continuity of care for patients. The lead scheduling coordinator is an essential component of the team and works in conjunction with clinical, financial and data management colleagues to assure patients are scheduled and authorized for services in a timely and efficient manner to minimize scheduling complications and coordinate services with the least amount of visits to Keck Medical Center. The lead scheduling coordinator will routinely be tasked with creating written workflows, protocols and process improvement plans to benefit patients and accelerate their scheduling and authorization process. Duties include: closely monitoring patients throughout various phases to assure completion of required testing and services, validating financial clearance for services being scheduled, providing stellar customer service when interfacing with patients in person and over the phone to establish appointments, alerting clinicians when patient testing is complete or when patients are non-compliant in completing medical services, coordinating collection of testing results and provider notes, coordinating care with ancillary departments as needed. The lead scheduling coordinator is also expected to problem-solve in real time and provide appropriate direction and support to patients and staff as they relate to appointment scheduling and monitoring the completion of requested/required services. The lead scheduling coordinator will participate in team meetings and discussions related to complex cases, advancing operational throughput and process improvement to benefit patient care. They should possess analytic skills and be able to evaluate/analyze information, patient charts and physician notes to effectively schedule patient care and convey/communicate outcomes as needed to others. They should have excellent verbal and written skills and an ability to easily learn hospital and departmental IT systems as they relate to scheduling and record retrieval. The scheduling coordinator acts as the non-clinical patient care coordinator to assure patients are being effectively cared for, and managed, to be compliant with departmental requirements and physician-directed care. Bilingual fluency is strongly preferred.

Essential Duties:

• Follows all HIPAA related compliance by keeping patient clinical/personal information private. This includes, but is not limited to: Confirming a minimum of two patient identifiers prior to discussions with patients and staff, sending written or electronic communications and/or entering new information into electronic systems or paper charts. Prior to speaking with any patient representatives confirm the representative is noted in the EMR, to receive HIPAA related information. If a HIPAA violation occurs, communicating immediately with a supervisor, quality department representative and entering the violation into the risk management system.
• Establishes written workflows, protocols and process improvement plans to accelerate scheduling activities and address challenges or gaps in service.
• Acts as leader, mentor and professional among peers to facilitate positive change, growth and comradery within the department. Provides direction to colleagues requiring assistance; helps peers in organizing daily tasks and resolving challenging scheduling scenarios.
• Responsible for overseeing delegation of work to other Scheduling Coordinators and Schedulers.
• Responsible for coordinating the activities of the assigned area(s) and interacts with designated staff and faculty to maximize efficiency and patient satisfaction.
• Acts as a business professional in interaction and appearance by providing superior customer service when interfacing with patients, peers, physicians, superiors and hospital personnel/leadership. Represents the department in a positive and proactive way to others when discussing role and duties.
• Demonstrates advanced knowledge of the departmental process and the role of the scheduling coordinator to assist and guide patient care through the various phases of care, including, but not limited to: oversight of timely scheduling based on clinical needs, escalating acute medical information and issues to appropriate staff when notified verbally or in writing by a patient, family member or outside medical facility, following up per established individual/team metrics with patients and clinical staff so patient care is not delayed/stalled; acting as the non-clinical patient care coordinator to assure patients complete testing and physician-directed care within established programmatic guidelines; maintaining an ability to problem-solve and self-navigate workload, and throughput, to maximum efficiency and productivity without errors/mistakes.
• Maintains advanced proficiency of the electronic scheduling systems and ancillary scheduling duties with less than 5% inaccuracy when scheduling patient appointments. When scheduling patient appointments, verbally confirms with patient and/or patient representative and/or ancillary departments the following information: verifies patient demographics; confirms patient understanding of specific appointment date, time, location; confirms active authorization available for scheduled appointment date; confirms/assigns appropriate insurance registration (particularly Medicare when applicable), enters appointment into the scheduling database; verifies clinical orders are in place prior to appointment.
• Provides follow-up appointment call to patients three days prior to appointment. Reviews complete clinic schedule the day prior and validates all patients have been confirmed. Ensures clinic physician schedules maximize utilization and coordinates appropriately with the outpatient clinical team. If a patient is added, or eliminated, last-minute from the schedule, provides additional communication to clinic staff and patient to ensure smooth patient experience the day of the appointment.
• Establishes a sense of comradery among peers and with supervisor/lead schedulers to facilitate teamwork with others and throughout the department. Works well with others to problem-solve, provide coverage when necessary and assist clinical and non-clinical staff during acute and unforeseen circumstances to advance patient care.
• Maintains intermediate knowledge of OPTN/UNOS policies and timetables, and the role of CMS, in the department as they related to duties and responsibilities.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Req High school or equivalent

• Req 2 years Minimum of 2 years ‘experience in the medical related field.

• Req Content knowledge of medical terminology and service area process.
• Req Ability to become proficient in EMR and various IT systems required.
• Req Demonstrated ability to problem-solve and provide effective resolution.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Pref Associate's degree AA strongly preferred or BA/BS preferred
• Pref Medical Assistant certification/diploma preferred
• Pref Bilingual strongly preferred; if bilingual certified department translator strongly preferred.

Required Licenses/Certifications:

• Req Fire Life Safety Training (LA City) If no card upon hire, one must be obtained within 30 days of hire and maintained by renewal before expiration date. (Required within LA City only)

USC is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance. We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at (213) 821-8100, or by email at uschr@usc.edu.  Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.

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