About Our Family:
Established in 1978, Alcona Health Center (AHC) is a non-profit, Federally Qualified Health Center dedicated to making a lasting impact in the Northern MI communities we serve, offering medical, behavioral health, dental and pharmacy services. As a member of the AHC family, you will join a team of over 300 coworkers, all devoted to providing quality health care to all residents of our communities, regardless of their ability to pay.
Your Valued Contributions:
Trained in multiple disciplines throughout the site. This position is tiered based on competencies; Level III indicates the highest level of training and clinical skills.
Site support staff may conduct any combination of the following duties. Assists patients checking in for their appointment, obtaining medical records, and scheduling appointments. Assist in examinations, procedures, and treatment of patients under direction of a medical provider. Collects vital signs and patient data. Assists providers in obtaining prior authorization requests, scheduling specialty provider referrals and diagnostic imaging referrals. Processes medication refill requests.
Performs general administrative duties in accordance with Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), government standards and company policies and procedures.
- Checks patients in and out of the health centers. Enters new patient data into Electronic Health Record (EHR), verifying insurance and assuring appropriate authorizations have been received. Upon check out, verifies accuracy of providers’ charges and accepts payments. Schedules follow up appointments.
- Processes billings and payments. Matches daily batch report to schedule ensuring all patients seen have a corresponding charge.
- Verifies and balances all entries at the end of day by printing the daily batch report and deposit slip
- Verifies accuracy of the daily deposit and sends in deposit bag to designate site at the end of the day
- Maintains health records according to established health center procedures. Reviews medical records for completeness and accuracy, verifying with health personnel as necessary. Retrieves health records as requested.
- Schedules patient appointments, contacts patients regarding rescheduling and appointment reminders, confirms demographic information, schedules follow up appointments after patient check out.
- Operates telephone and paging system.
- Supports and assists clinical providers and professionals.
- Participate in huddles with provider and care team. Prepares daily schedule to address gaps in care.
- Screen and respond to patient phone messages in a timely manner according to health center guidelines, collaborate with provider, act on provider response, and communicate with patient; document task communications in EHR.
- Follow Medical Support Staff workflow dependent on patient visit type. Obtain chief complaint, vitals, allergies, medication reconciliation, etc.
- Within scope of practice and direction of the provider, assist in all aspects of patient consultation, treatment, procedures, and follow-up care.
- Track, schedule, and obtain prior authorization for patient labs, diagnostic imaging, and specialty provider referrals. Maintains current roster of various health care insurance carriers to provide patients with updates of changes and to ensure proper coverage for testing.
- Assembles information concerning patient's clinical background and presents appropriate and necessary information to payer authorization representative. Responsible for contacting patients regarding appointment date and time, as well as providing necessary instructions for various procedures.
- Processes medication refill requests per medication management policy/procedure.
- Clean, disinfect, sterilize, and maintain equipment and instruments following universal precautions, infection control, and hazardous waste removal practices.
- Maintains a general understanding of Universal Data Standard (UDS) measures, Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium (MQIC) guidelines, Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), NCQA, and PCMH standards. Utilizes appropriate resources to guide practice, i.e., Lippincott manual, MQIC guidelines, Elsevier, etc.
- Perform routine medical tasks within the scope of license/certification such as: injections, medication administration, IV catheter insertion, phlebotomy, CLIA waived testing, etc. as directed by the provider.
- Recognizes and reacts effectively to emergency situations, seeks assistance, and intervenes appropriately and within scope of practice. Notifies the appropriate people in the event of a medical emergency.
Required Training & Experience:
- Possesses the ability to secure transportation to allow for reliable and timely work attendance, including when business is required to be conducted at sites other than your primary worksite.
- Possesses a current Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) CPR certification or obtain within 6 months of start of employment.
- Possesses and maintains Medical Assistant (MA), Medical Assistant Certification/Registration (CMA/RMA), EMT, Paramedic, or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Licenses may be required dependent on scope of the role within the assigned clinical site(s).
