Surgical Services Associate Surgery Urology

Penn Medicine is dedicated to our tripartite mission of providing the highest level of care to patients, conducting innovative research, and educating future leaders in the field of medicine. Working for this leading academic medical center means collaboration with top clinical, technical, and business professionals across all disciplines.

About the role

This position is responsible for assisting with the management of a clinical practice for a surgeon(s) in a busy academic department. Duties include coordinating patient-related activity for both outpatient visits and surgical procedures, triaging telephone calls, taking messages, and providing information to internal and external customers. The role involves scheduling surgeries, outpatient diagnostic tests, appointments, and admissions as requested, obtaining procedural authorizations, preparing and processing surgical billing, and handling correspondence.

Responsibilities

• Clinical Duties:
  • Greets, screens, schedules, and directs patients in a prompt, positive, pleasant, and helpful manner at all times, even in adverse circumstances.
  • Acts as the primary point of contact for assigned patients.
  • Retrieves and processes incoming medical records/images, ensures scanning and physician review is completed, and confirms diagnostic testing and evaluations are finished before visits.
  • Assists attending physician and/or APP with patient relations and scheduling during outpatient office hours, including traveling to clinic locations when necessary.
  • Provides coverage for practice team members during absences and/or staffing shortages.
  • Schedules required procedures and OR for patients at the attending physician’s direction.
  • Coordinates all pre-surgical procedures, including ancillary tests, pre-operative testing, obtaining x-rays, scans, MRIs, lab results, and EKGs for completion of pre-op packages.
  • Ensures timely submission and posting of operative cases to the OR grid, accuracy of information, and completion of required forms.
  • Processes medication refill requests and triages them to appropriate staff.
  • Coordinates and schedules cases with medical equipment representatives as required in the OR.
  • Communicates underutilization of OR block time in a timely manner to the manager for appropriate redistribution.
• Admin Duties:
  • Answers and screens all phone calls, responds to patient inquiries/problems in a timely fashion, or delegates to appropriate staff.
  • Maintains multiple calendars/schedules, including surgery schedules, office hours, and meetings.
  • Schedules travel and lodging for physicians and submits expenses for reimbursement (travel, subscriptions, memberships, books).
  • Completes prior authorizations for medications and medical record requests.
  • Creates, edits, and distributes letters per attending physician direction.
  • Proficient in the use of all systems necessary for practice operations.
• Billing Duties:
  • Ensures all operative reports and encounter forms are turned in for billing within designated timeframes.
  • Maintains comprehensive knowledge of reimbursement coverage from third-party payers, managed care plans, and protocols for referrals.

Requirements

• High School Diploma or GED (Required).
• 2+ years of medical office experience, or 2 years of customer service experience.
• Related clinical office experience required.
• Prior customer service or insurance verification experience in a healthcare setting preferred.
• A degree (Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's) may be considered in lieu of experience.

Schedule

Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–4:30 PM, with flexibility in hours based on operational need.

Benefits

We offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits program, including one of the finest prepaid tuition assistance programs in the region.