Patient Navigator, Care Coordination

About The Role

The Patient Navigator (Inpatient) serves as a patient advocate, guiding patients and families through the healthcare system to ensure they receive timely, appropriate, and coordinated services across the hospital. This role addresses non clinical barriers to care, connects patients with resources, facilitates communication between patients and providers, and supports continuity of care from admission to discharge and beyond. The Patient Navigator works collaboratively with clinical teams, social workers, and community partners to improve patient outcomes, enhance patient satisfaction, and reduce avoidable hospital readmissions.

Responsibilities

• Service provided is patient centered by actively contributing to a friendly, welcoming, and safe environment; communicating clearly; responding to complaints and concerns; organizing work processes to accommodate customer needs; meeting or exceeding service expectations; acting as a role model for Service Excellence; maintaining professional composure; working effectively with the team to achieve customer service targets; and demonstrating respect for patient rights.
• Provides non-clinical support to patients and families across inpatient, outpatient, and specialty care settings while building trusting relationships, particularly with patients experiencing complex social, financial, or logistical challenges.
• Identifies and addresses non-medical barriers to care such as housing insecurity, transportation, food access, lack of primary care, and connects patients to community resources, social support, financial assistance programs, and other support services to ensure timely follow-up care.
• Ensures continuity of care by helping patients understand care plans, follow-up instructions, and available resources; facilitating communication between patients, families, and care teams; assisting with discharge planning; scheduling follow-up appointments; tracking high-risk patients; and maintaining post-discharge contact when appropriate.
• Captures and organizes patient information to schedule appointments appropriately, verify insurance eligibility, guide patients through referral and prior authorization requirements, acquire and organize medical records and reports, and prepare records for accurate EMR scanning.
• Communicates and educates effectively by providing timely patient updates to care team members, delivering culturally appropriate health education to patients and families, and educating staff and providers on available hospital and community resources.
• Maintains compliance and regulatory standards by understanding and adhering to University Hospital’s Corporate Compliance Policy, Code of Conduct, and Conflict of Interest Policy, and keeping abreast of applicable federal, state, and University Hospital regulations, laws, and policies.

Qualifications

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in social work, Public Health, Healthcare Administration, or a related field required. Minimum of two (2) years’ experience in healthcare, case management, care coordination, or patient advocacy, preferably in a hospital or large healthcare system. Demonstrated understanding of social determinants of health and barriers impacting underserved populations. Strong interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills with the ability to de-escalate challenging situations. Familiarity with medical terminology and healthcare systems. Computer literacy, including proficiency with Microsoft Office and EMR systems. Bilingual or multilingual skills strongly preferred (Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, etc.). Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, diverse healthcare environment.
• Preferred: Years of experience and/or navigator training may be substituted for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis.

About Us

University Hospital is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. As the principal teaching affiliate of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the only state-certified Level 1 Trauma Center in Northern New Jersey, University Hospital is training the next generation of physicians and advancing science to discovery while taking exceptional care of patients, regardless of their financial situation.