Patient Access Liaison, Lead - Access Center - Full Time 8 Hour Days (Non-Exempt) (Union)

About the Role

The Patient Access Liaison Lead serves as the primary point of contact for access to USC academic medical centers and the USC Health Sciences Campus. Under the direction of Access Center Leadership, the Lead assigns daily duties, balances workloads, schedules team members, and leads daily huddles. The role also involves acting as the service recovery contact for patient and customer matters, managing incoming and outgoing communications, and coordinating appointments and insurance verification.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrates competency in the quality of work and knowledge of a Patient Access Representative.
• Strives for first call resolution and maintains a high level of customer service.
• Maintains warm, courteous, and professional behavior in accordance with USC/Keck customer service standards.
• Ensures consistent accuracy in all tasks associated with the role.
• Exhibits collegial and professional demeanor in all interactions.
• Contributes effectively as a productive team member to the Patient Access Center and USC/Keck.
• Follows USC/Keck Communications standards and policies.
• Floats to any area within the organization as assigned by management.
• Works from home as organizationally deployed, following departmental guidelines for remote work.
• Pages physicians as dictated by internal procedures, correctly and professionally.
• Performs follow-up checks on all open pages while on shift and before leaving.
• Ensures all information in the Call Management system and Qgenda is updated and accessible.
• Answers, screens, and directs incoming and outgoing telephone calls, electronic messages, and omnichannel contacts using the organizational communications management system.
• Processes messages in compliance with HIPAA regulations.
• Assists with staff and patient concerns courteously and professionally.
• Performs scheduling functions across multiple clinical sites, including scheduling, rescheduling, cancellations, and confirmations of appointments.
• Schedules medical diagnostics and outpatient procedures.
• Creates and maintains medical data, reconciling it with patient appointment records.
• Coordinates care with patient coordinators, nurses, and physicians to secure appointments.
• Analyzes multiple schedules to provide adequate patient access.
• Performs data entry and maintains databases for bumps and cancellations.
• Verifies insurance coverage and advises patients of any estimated financial responsibility.
• Carries out Service Recovery activity using USC/Keck defined guidelines and serves as the first point of escalation for Service Recovery.
• Serves as a key resource for Patient Access Center information.
• Assists with updates or changes to foundational processes, including scheduling protocols, scripting, and training materials.
• Provides direction, guidance, and ad hoc training to Level 1 and Level 2 staff.
• Assists supervisors with conducting huddles, identifying affinity assignments, and reporting needs.
• Creates and/or maintains data for Provider Master Schedule(s).
• Assists with staffing planning, projections, and scheduling to ensure adequate coverage.
• Facilitates implementation and communication of security and/or emergency standards as directed by leadership.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Three to five years of experience working in a call center and/or healthcare customer service environment (or a combination equaling two or more years).
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills and strong leadership abilities.
• Ability to multi-task and work cross-trained in multi-specialty areas.
• Knowledge of insurance and excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in healthcare, business, or operations field.
• Vocational certificates in healthcare (e.g., appointment scheduling, registration, insurance verification, medical assistant).
• One year of lead experience.
• Knowledge of HIPAA compliance and various health insurance types.
• Knowledge of medical terminology.
• Demonstrated high-level computer literacy with practice management scheduling systems.
• Bilingual skills (e.g., Spanish, Chinese, or other languages).

Required Licenses/Certifications

• Fire Life Safety Training (LA City) – must be obtained within 30 days of hire if not already certified.

Pay

The hourly rate range for this position is $23.92 - $40.66. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.