Surgical Coordinator - Dr. Duncan

About the Role

The Surgical Coordinator is responsible for the overall daily activities of the physician’s surgery practice. In coordination with the clinical team, this role involves communicating with different departments and outside parties to ensure surgery patients get approved and scheduled for surgery. This position will be assigned to Spine Surgeon, Dr. Jonathan Duncan, and requires travel to the Babcock, Ridgewood, and Schertz locations.

Responsibilities

• Interacts with administrative and clinical staff including front desk, medical records, nursing, and ancillary services to ensure maximum utilization of resources and efficient delivery of services.
• Oversees the day-to-day activities and schedule of surgical patients.
• Ensures surgical orders are submitted and processed for authorization.
• Schedules patients for surgery and advises them of pre-surgical requirements, including laboratory orders, educational classes, and/or x-rays.
• Advises patients of co-payment, co-insurance, or other out-of-pocket expenses prior to surgery and refers them to a financial counselor when necessary.
• Maintains the surgical schedule and serves as a liaison between staff and the authorization department.
• Enters surgical/clinical charges into Athena.
• Documents patient phone calls, prescription refill messages, and obtains physician signatures; ensures patient phone calls are retrieved and returned in a timely manner.
• Works with the Medical Secretary on phone and Athena documentation tasks (buckets).
• Monitors and works "Hold" buckets on the Athena Dashboard; assists the Professional Reimbursement Department in resolving open claims.
• Addresses concerns and/or complaints from patients, vendors, and staff members; escalates to the Clinic Manager as needed.
• Works with the physician and patients on obtaining research scores for SOS.
• Coordinates On-Call rounding lists of patients.
• Ensures regulatory compliance and reports any issues to the Clinic Manager as they arise.
• Performs other duties as assigned by the supervisor or company.

Requirements

• High School Diploma or equivalent.
• Nationally Registered Medical Assistant Certification required (must be obtained within 6 months of hire and/or must be kept current).
• Minimum of two years of clinical experience with supervisory responsibility.

Skills

• Clinical knowledge.
• Familiarity with automated practice management systems and/or EMR such as Athena.
• Understanding of health insurance requirements related to medical reimbursement (e.g., deductibles, co-pays).
• Strong and effective communication skills.
• Leadership by example.
• Excellent planning, organization, and task management skills.
• Ability to multi-task, work in a fast-paced environment, and demonstrate team cooperation.

Physical Demands & Working Conditions

• Requires prolonged standing, sitting, stretching, and some bending.
• Requires eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate a keyboard, photocopier, telephone, and other equipment.
• Requires normal range of hearing and eyesight to record, prepare, and communicate appropriate information to patients and team members.
• Fast-paced work environment.

Supervisor: Clinic Manager