Patient Experience Specialist

Position Summary / Career Interest:

The Patient Experience Specialist is a key resource in developing and maintaining a culture in which patients are at the center of care and service. This coordinator is responsible for autonomously and collaboratively reviewing, prioritizing, investigating, and implementing the most appropriate actions and solutions in response to patient and family complaints, grievances and requests for assistance. The Patient Experience Coordinator serves as a liaison within the health system to understand and respond to any concern presented by patients, patient's representatives or health system employees on behalf of the patient. The Patient Experience Coordinator facilitates the thorough investigation of these concerns through interactions with the patient/patient representative, the medical record, and staff involved in the care of the patient and works with key stakeholders to create an appropriate response . They collaborate with numerous departments and professionals as appropriate and regularly partner with Risk Management to review cases that are clinical and more complex in nature to evaluate appropriateness of care, promote containment of claims and losses and aid in the reduction of liability exposure. This position requires superb critical thinking, problem solving and analytical skills along with exceptional verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills to effectively interact with a variety of audiences in addressing sensitive patient topics and concerns.

Responsibilities and Essential Job Functions

• Demonstrates excellence in the areas of critical thinking, problem-solving, interpersonal communication, technical skills and also demonstrates the ability to balance multiple competing priorities.
• Exercises professional and clinical assessment skills, critical and strategic thinking, and collaborative problem solving approaches to skillfully manage complex and/or clinically-related patient/family complaints and grievances from initial entry into the Patient Relations Department through reasonable resolution or referral to the Risk and Claims Department, maintaining patient rights, confidentiality and adherence to regulatory requirements.
• Utilizes clinical experience and familiarity with clinical situations and processes to investigate patient/family complaints and grievances through review of medical records, conversation with other clinicians and evaluation of policies and procedures. Draws from clinical body of knowledge to actively participate in planned meetings with partners and providers in clinical departments.
• Provides consultation to individuals, departments, and committees to promote prompt resolution to concerns, assists in resource identification, and aids in problem-solving in a variety of situations.
• Proactively communicates and collaborates with Patient Relations colleagues, Risk Management, health system executives, physician colleagues, The University of Kansas Police Department and other members of patient care, leadership and support teams.
• Assists patients and families in meeting special needs, including but not limited to, patient and family meetings with care teams, resource identification and lost or damaged personal items concerns.
• Creates empathetic and detail-oriented written responses to patients who have submitted a grievance or formal complaint, in accordance with regulatory requirements.
• Represents patient/family needs and rights on relevant working committees as requested.
• Participates in planning and/or presenting relevant orientation and continuing education as requested and serves as a role model to those within the health system regarding conflict resolution, de-escalation and compassionate boundary setting.
• Maintains appropriate and timely documentation for trending and analysis, according to regulatory agencies.
• Independently and collaboratively works with members of the health system’s revenue cycle team to evaluate patient billing statements and balances in order to recommend financial adjustments as appropriate for service recovery.
• Must be able to perform the professional, clinical and or technical competencies of the assigned unit or department.
• These statements are intended to describe the essential functions of the job and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities. Skills and duties may vary dependent upon your department or unit. Other duties may be assigned as required.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelors Degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Social Work or related healthcare field
• 2 or more years of previous experience in a healthcare setting with clinical exposure.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Master's Degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Social Work or related field

Preferred Licensure and Certification

• Licensed Registered Nurse (LRN) - Single State - State Board of Nursing OR
• Licensed Masters Social Worker(LMSW) - State Board of Behavioral Sciences

Knowledge Requirements

• Ability to effectively operate in high-stress situations and demonstrate productivity both independently and interdependently.
• Comfort and skill in collaborating with physicians, organizational leaders and executives, members of the care team and other key stakeholders in the organization.
• Mastery of medical terminology, concepts and processes necessary to liaise between patients, their families and the care team
• Ability to support and collaborate with a multitude of resources both within the health system and within the community.
• Capability of gaining immediate credibility with individuals through professionalism, communication skills, experience, empathy and compassion.
• Ability to reprioritize work based on changing organizational and customer needs
• Strong analytical, decision-making and critical thinking skills

We are an equal employment opportunity employer without regard to a person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and sexual orientation), national origin, ancestry, age (40 or older), disability, veteran status or genetic information.