Senior Patient Relations & Safety Specialist

About the role

The Senior Patient Relations & Safety Specialist will join the Quality & Patient Safety team at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. This is an onsite position, with the opportunity for one remote day per week following an initial training period.

Responsibilities

• Works collaboratively to ensure a compassionate, supportive, and safe environment for patients and families.
• Serves as a liaison between patients, families, and all hospital departments, addressing concerns and requests while advocating for patient needs.
• Manages loss reduction, claims, and the occurrence reporting process, and facilitates root cause analyses to prevent future incidents.
• Supports external agency reporting and contributes to ongoing safety education and training efforts.
• Provides on-site advocacy and facilitation by anticipating and ensuring that patients'/families’ needs for comfort and compassion are met.
• Answers, screens, and trisades incoming telephone calls, emails, and letters to Patient Relations.
• Participates in internal and external reporting of patient complaint and survey data as required by regulators, payers, and accrediting organizations.
• Assists with tracking and quality assurance of patient satisfaction database.
• Interprets the Patient's Bill of Rights, hospital policies, and non-medical procedures to patients/families when called upon to do so.
• Assists with responding to inquiries, complaints, suggestions, and compliments received from patients, insurance companies, and other agencies.
• Reviews the STARS Reporting System and triages reported incidents to the correct individual and/or department to ensure follow-up of reported issues.
• Collaborates with clinical staff to inform the creation of cause maps, root cause analysis, and corrective actions.
• Serves as Hospital liaison to the Patient Family Advisory Council.
• Provides administrative support to the following committees: Quality Review, Peer Support, and Performance Measurement Steering.
• Works with legal counsel and liability insurance companies on potential claims.
• Investigates patient events and monitors occurrence reports for trends.
• Serves as Hospital liaison to the Patient Family Advisory Council.
• Provides support in conducting Root Cause Analyses (RCAs), including investigation, formulation of action plans with the team, and monitoring of actions.
• Posts and inputs data into records, logs, and computerized databases.
• Gathers data from medical records according to current regulatory specifications and inputs the information into the data management system.
• Creates PowerPoint presentations, scorecards, and other materials with minimal direction and in collaboration with department leaders.
• Utilizes Excel to create worksheets and graphs with formulas, functions, and pivot tables.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in nursing, health care administration, hospital administration, or a related field is preferred.
• Equivalent work experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Demonstrated ability to interact and communicate effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders, patients, and families from diverse backgrounds.
• Excellent organizational skills, including the ability to prioritize work and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to protect and maintain confidentiality with PHI and sensitive data.
• Five years of work experience, with two years in a hospital or healthcare setting preferred, including familiarity with medical terminology.