Patient Account Assistant

Basic Function and Responsibility

To prepare and file insurance claims, payment posting, credit and collections, adjust patient accounts receivables, and advise and assist patients with questions regarding insurance coverage for services provided at the College of Optometry.

Characteristic Duties

• Verify insurance coverage, patient benefits and compile itemized bills.
• Verify accuracy of information on claims, such as patient information, policy numbers, diagnosis, and coded services itemizations.
• Telephone, write or fax insurance company to obtain information regarding extent of insurance benefit.
• Verify accuracy of total bill showing amounts covered by insurance and co-pay amounts.
• Answer patient questions regarding billing statements and insurance coverage.
• Telephone, write or fax insurance companies with unpaid insurance claims to obtain settlement of claim.
• Prepare forms outlining expenses for governmental, welfare and other agencies paying for specified patients.
• Explain benefit coverage to patient.
• Record insurance payments and close out file when paid in full.
• Prepare unpaid claims for transfer to collection agencies.
• Process insurance and/or payment claims, including submission, follow up and payment application in accordance with all department productivity and accuracy standards.
• Utilize multiple internal and external computer programs and applications to process billing submissions and achieve prompt and optimum payment processing and deposit.
• Review and analyze billing edits, errors, unpaid claims etc and resolve within scope of authority.
• Analyze and determine appropriate action to be taken on inquiries from patients and payers and resolve within scope of authority.
• Analyze and monitor trends and problems pertaining to patient billing, provide documentation, and report/recommend action to Supervisor.
• Monitor and evaluate patient accounts and refer delinquent accounts for collection, and may participate in collection activities.
• May verify insurance coverage and conduct credit checks.
• May make arrangements for, and confirm, payments including financial assistance and self-pay payments.
• Remain knowledgeable of federal, state and payer billing regulations and conduct all activities within established regulatory requirements.
• May be required to perform other duties as assigned.

Supervision

Direct supervision is received from the Manager, Business/Fiscal Operations. No supervision exercised.

Schedule

40 hours/week, Monday through Friday.

Minimum Qualifications

• An Associate's degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• At least 2 years of experience from which comparable knowledge and skills can be acquired.

Preferred Qualifications

• An associate's degree or greater is desired.

Pay

$17.40 to $23.85 per hour.

Benefits

This position is eligible for University benefits, including medical, dental and vision plans, retirement, paid time off, short- and long-term disability, paid parental leave, paid caregiver leave, and educational fee discounts for all four UM System campuses.

Application Materials

Application materials include a cover letter and resume. Finalists will be asked to provide references at a later date. Applicants must combine all application materials into one PDF or Microsoft Word document and upload as a resume attachment to the UMSL Careers website. Limit document name to 50 characters. Maximum size limit is 11MB. Do not include special characters (e.g., /, &, %, etc.).