PATIENT REGISTRATION SPEC

About the Facility

Parkwest Medical Center, Covenant Health’s flagship facility in West Knoxville, combines world-class cardiac expertise with compassionate, community-centered care. Since 1973, Parkwest has grown into the region’s largest hospital, offering advanced services such as an all-digital catheterization lab, comprehensive breast health, emergency, and critical care. It is consistently ranked among Tennessee's top 10 hospitals by U.S. News & World Report and has earned national recognition as a Top 100 Heart Hospital, as well as an “A” safety grade from Leapfrog. As part of Covenant Health, the region’s largest employer, Parkwest marries cutting-edge technology with a focus on cardiology, stroke, surgical excellence, and patient safety.

About the Role

Coordinates the centralized scheduling of all outpatient diagnostic and surgical procedures. Accurately collects and enters required financial and demographic information for all patients registered at the facility. Ensures verification of benefits and pre-certification requirements are met prior to scheduled appointments or admissions. Follows up on urgent or unscheduled registrations to maintain process consistency. Establishes controls to ensure unscheduled patients receive accurate information regarding their patient liability.

Responsibilities

• Collects co-payments and deposits based on verification information, generates receipts for payers, and delivers cash transactions to the cashier for proper posting to patient accounts.
• Maintains strict confidentiality of patient information.
• Recommends updates to policies and procedures to increase efficiency and promote data integrity.
• Notifies the Financial Counselor immediately upon scheduling or registering potential self-pay, worker’s compensation, or non-covered procedure patients.
• Makes patient type changes based on information from Medical Records Staff or Care Coordinators, ensuring supporting documentation is present in the medical record.
• Ensures all reservations are properly documented to support departmental statistics.
• Enters faxed reservations into the HBOC scheduling system and schedules operative and diagnostic procedures, documenting each with detailed information.
• Notifies departments of any special resources required for procedures or events.
• Verifies insurance benefits and obtains pre-certification from third-party payers, demonstrating extensive knowledge of insurance plan requirements.
• Provides necessary documentation to DHS and Med Assist staff for patients potentially in need of financial assistance or TennCare enrollment.
• Efficiently gathers demographic, medical, and financial information for scheduling, registration, and verification using the HBOC computer system.
• Enters verification and pre-certification notes into the SMS financial system as a cross-reference.
• Participates with clinical and care management areas to improve collections and cash flow.
• Analyzes claims denial data to identify opportunities for improved collections, enhanced insurance and physician relations, and workflow improvements.
• Reports procedural changes or updates to appropriate leadership.
• Professionally interacts with patients, physicians, visitors, and hospital staff.
• Stays abreast of regulatory and insurance requirements, incorporating changes into daily functions.
• Maintains a registration accuracy rate of 95 to 100 percent.
• Explains necessary information to patients and family members, including consent for treatment, advance directives, medical and financial releases, deposit requirements, billing policies, and advanced beneficiary notices.
• Recognizes situations requiring supervision and seeks appropriate resources.
• Directs, escorts, or provides wheelchair assistance to patients upon completion of registration.
• Performs pre-registration via phone and mail, advising patients of any co-pay or deductible amounts due upon admission.
• Maintains an accurate bed board using the computerized bed tracking system to minimize wait times for admitted patients.
• Coordinates with Nursing Services for the flow of inpatient and observation patient admissions.
• Demonstrates competence in using information systems related to patient registration and scheduling (DeRoyal, HBOC, Account Link, and Medifax).
• Updates schedules daily for unexpected procedures, cancellations, or changes, communicating revisions to affected individuals.
• Shows initiative to cross-train in scheduling, registration, verification, and pre-certification duties.
• Prepares patient account folders by scanning registration, scheduling, and verification documents into the optical imaging system (e.g., insurance cards, financial agreements, ER charge sheets, verification sheets, pre-certification letters, and physician orders).
• Indexes documents using the optical scanning system, placing them in the correct electronic file folder.
• Handles varying tasks and sets priorities effectively.
• Activates manual systems during computer network downtime and prints schedules in advance when necessary.
• Notifies leadership of unscheduled downtime occurrences.
• Coordinates scheduling of classrooms for meetings and conferences, ensuring confirmation of date and time.
• Follows policies, procedures, and safety standards.
• Completes required education assignments annually.
• Works toward achieving goals and objectives and participates in quality improvement initiatives as requested.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Minimum Education: Any combination of formal education and/or prior work experience sufficient to demonstrate possession of the knowledge, skill, and ability needed to perform the essential tasks of the job, typically equivalent to a high school diploma or GED. Preference may be given to individuals possessing a Bachelor’s degree in a directly-related field from an accredited college or university.
• Minimum Experience: One (1) year of experience in a hospital or financial setting OR three (3) years of total customer-facing/customer service experience.