Job Description

The Patient Encounter Associate performs all support functions related to patient reception, scheduling and financial pre-clearance, ensuring a high degree of patient satisfaction and maximum reimbursement to the institution. Responsibilities include but are not limited to: scheduling, pre-registration, self-pay screening and insurance eligibility determination. Responsible for obtaining and verifying patient demographic and insurance information, determining insurance/payment source, identifying necessary authorization or referral requirements, and assisting with determining and resolving insurance issues.

Qualifications

• HS/GED; Associates degree preferred

• 1 year physician practice experience. Must have a minimum of one week training on-site which will be provided by practice. Preferred: experience in a medical office setting, utilizing a computer system for physician scheduling

Collective bargaining unit: SEIU 1199-MSH

Responsibilities

1. Greets patients in person and by telephone and updates their insurance/demographic information in the practice management system.

2. Gathers registration and financial information for patient pre-registration, enters the information into the practice management system and ensures all entries are complete and accurate.

3. Answers phones for the practice; schedules, re-schedules and cancels patient appointments based on established protocols.

4. Contacts patients at home to confirm scheduled and canceled appointments.

5. Checks in patients upon arrival at the practice and performs full registration, including: verification of demographics, completion of financial screening, prioritizing and verifying insurance as appropriate with third-party providers, making follow-up appointments, discussing MSMCs self-pay policy for new patients, completing of Medicare as Secondary Payer questionnaire if appropriate, and having patient read and sign NOPP.

6. Ensures the patient has paid, or collects, the appropriate co-pay under the direction of billing management, and provides the patient with a receipt as per cash-control protocols.

7. May perform simple to moderately-complex charge entry tasks or enter payments collected from patients and prepares Cashiers deposit. Note: duties are mutually exclusive and may not be performed by the same employee.

8. Facilitates prior authorization and appointment scheduling for diagnostic testing requested by providers for patients in EPIC.

9. Reviews status of waiting room on a regular basis and advises patients of wait times.

10. Ensures prior approval and other required procedures are met prior to delivery of care, by working collaboratively with other hospital departments.

11. Reconciles daily patient schedule with encounters closed.

12. Works billing edit reports and reviews encounters which may require correction.

13. Scans documents into EPIC on a daily basis.

14. Participates in system development and process improvement by providing feedback to Manager regarding issues in registration and change posting that impact negatively on operations.

15. Follows all HIPAA and other federal/state agency requirements regarding proper handling of PHI documents.

16. Other duties as assigned.

About Us

Strength Through Diversity

The Mount Sinai Health System believes that diversity, equity, and inclusion are key drivers for excellence. We share a common devotion to delivering exceptional patient care. When you join us, you become a part of Mount Sinai’s unrivaled record of achievement, education, and advancement as we revolutionize medicine together. We invite you to participate actively as a part of the Mount Sinai Health System team by:

• Using a lens of equity in all aspects of patient care delivery, education, and research to promote policies and practices to allow opportunities for all to thrive and reach their potential.

• Serving as a role model confronting racist, sexist, or other inappropriate actions by speaking up, challenging exclusionary organizational practices, and standing side-by-side in support of colleagues who experience discrimination.

• Inspiring and fostering an environment of anti-racist behaviors among and between departments and co-workers.

At Mount Sinai, our leaders strive to learn, empower others, and embrace change to further advance equity and improve the well-being of staff, patients, and the organization. We expect our leaders to embrace anti-racism, create a collaborative and respectful environment, and constructively disrupt the status quo to improve the system and enhance care for our patients. We work hard to create an inclusive, welcoming and nurturing work environment where all feel they are valued, belong and are able to advance professionally.

Explore more about this opportunity and how you can help us write a new chapter in our history!

“About the Mount Sinai Health System:

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 14 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Newsweek’s “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals” ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.

The Mount Sinai Health System is an equal opportunity employer. We comply with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate, exclude, or treat people differently on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We are passionately committed to addressing racism and its effects on our faculty, staff, students, trainees, patients, visitors, and the communities we serve. Our goal is for Mount Sinai to become an anti-racist health care and learning institution that intentionally addresses structural racism.”

EOE Minorities/Women/Disabled/Veterans

Compensation Statement

Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) provides a salary range to comply with the New York City Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for the role is $25.2058 - $27.382 Hourly. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and hospital need. The salary range or contractual rate listed does not include bonuses/incentive, differential pay or other forms of compensation or benefits.