Patient Care Associate I - Ophthalmology

Location: St. Louis, MO 63108 | Scheduled Hours: 40

About the Role

Performs select administrative and certain clinical duties under the direction of a licensed healthcare professional. Administrative duties may include scheduling appointments, maintaining medical records, patient billing, and coding medical information for insurance purposes. Clinical duties may include taking and recording vital signs and medical histories, preparing patients for examination, drawing blood, and providing medical attention as directed by physician or nursing staff.

Responsibilities

• Provides clerical and administrative support, including answering phones, setting schedules and meetings, typing documents, filing, and back-up support for others.
• Prepares treatment rooms for patient examinations, keeping the rooms neat and clean; cleans and sterilizes equipment, instruments, rooms, etc., and appropriately disposes of contaminated supplies.
• Interviews patients via phone or in person to obtain medical information or schedule various activities; creates, updates, and coordinates various medical records and files.
• Interacts with patients providing various routine information such as explaining treatment procedures, medications, diets, or various pre-established instructions to patients.
• Collects blood, tissue, or other laboratory specimens, logs the specimens, and prepares them for testing; may measure patient vital signs, weight, and height.
• May perform routine laboratory tests and sample analyses.
• May show patients to examination rooms and prepare them for the physician.

Working Conditions

• Normal office environment.
• Exposure to blood-borne pathogens; requires protective devices.
• Patient care setting; direct patient care setting.

Physical effort includes:

• Typically sitting at desk or table.
• Repetitive wrist, hand, or finger movement.
• Occasional lifting (25 lbs or less).

Equipment used includes office equipment, clinical/diagnostic tools, and simple hand tools.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent certification, or a combination of education and/or experience.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification must be obtained within one month of hire date (online BLS certifications without a skills assessment component are not sufficient).
• Preferred: Medical assistant school training or some college.

Skills

• File Maintenance
• Healthcare Environments
• Interpersonal Communication
• Medical Terminology
• Microsoft Office
• Office Administration
• Office Procedures
• Oral Communications
• Patient Communications
• Stenography

Pay

Salary Range: $16.75 - $22.70 / Hourly

Benefits

• Up to 22 days of vacation, 10 recognized holidays, and sick time.
• Competitive health insurance packages with priority appointments and lower copays/coinsurance.
• Free Metro transit U-Pass for eligible employees.
• Defined contribution (403(b)) Retirement Savings Plan with university contributions starting at 7%.
• Wellness challenges, annual health screenings, mental health resources, mindfulness programs, employee assistance program (EAP), financial resources, and access to dietitians.
• 4 weeks of caregiver leave to bond with a new child; family care resources for childcare and adult care needs.
• Tuition coverage for you and your family, including dependent undergraduate-level college tuition up to 100% at WashU and 40% elsewhere after seven years.