Referral Services Representative

About Us

As a not-for-profit organization, Mass General Brigham is committed to supporting patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community by leading innovation across our system. Founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Mass General Brigham supports a complete continuum of care including community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, a physician network, community health centers, home care, and other health-related entities. Several of our hospitals are teaching affiliates of Harvard Medical School, and our system is a national leader in biomedical research.

We're focused on a people-first culture for our system's patients and our professional family. That's why we provide our employees with more ways to achieve their potential. Mass General Brigham is committed to aligning our employees' personal aspirations with projects that match their capabilities and creating a culture that empowers our managers to become trusted mentors. We support each member of our team to own their personal development-and we recognize success at every step.

Our employees use the Mass General Brigham values to govern decisions, actions, and behaviors. These values guide how we get our work done: Patients, Affordability, Accountability & Service Commitment, Decisiveness, Innovation & Thoughtful Risk; and how we treat each other: Diversity & Inclusion, Integrity & Respect, Learning, Continuous Improvement & Personal Growth, Teamwork & Collaboration.

The Opportunity

This is a 100% work from home (remote) position. Under general direction of the Manager, the incumbent is primarily responsible for working collaboratively with practices, physicians, and patients to ensure that required Managed Care insurance referrals are obtained and appropriately recorded in Epic's Referral Management system prior to scheduled patient visits. The Referral Services Representative will communicate with patients, physicians and payor representatives as necessary in order to accomplish this and obtain the appropriate referral authorizations for Outpatient visit, utilizing available management reports to follow-up on unresolved issues and denied claims. The Referral Services Representative is responsible for performing various administrative and clerical duties required to support these functions and, on an as-needed basis, may be required to perform other tasks.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• The Patient Service Center is a centralized call center. Incumbents receive calls, place calls and obtain/generate insurance referrals.

• Primarily responsible for working collaboratively with Mass General Brigham practices to obtain insurance referrals for specialty services prior to scheduled visits by effectively communicating with payers to submit, track, follow-up and obtain insurance referrals, in a timely manner via websites, software, fax and telephone. Duties include working EPIC work queues and checking information in EPIC to determine if a valid referral for internal, external and/or incoming visits exists. If a valid referral is in EPIC, the incumbent will be responsible for linking the referral to the appropriate visit(s). For visits without a valid referral in the EPIC, the incumbent will use various payer technologies to obtain referral and authorization numbers for Mass General Brigham primary care practices and for specialty visits by contacting external PCPs to obtain referral numbers. Follow-up requires entering information into EPIC.

• Responsible for documenting and tracking the number of referrals that are deferred, generated and obtained. Following-up with practices who do not immediately issue an insurance referral, noting the reason for the delay and documenting when referrals are denied. Interfacing with practices and patients to report referral information. Complying with Patient Service Center standards for productivity, accuracy, quality and customer service.

• Responsible for verifying and updating patient registration information, including insurance, demographic and patient data needed to perform referral management functions. Works collaboratively with the Registration Department to resolve registration issues. Responds to questions regarding open accounts or managed care/insurance issues.

• Interfacing with patients will be necessary when information required to obtain an insurance referral cannot be completed. This may include working with a patient to: 1) to confirm and/or facilitate PCP assignment, 2) resolve insurance discrepancies, 3) re-verify insurance information with the patient, correcting information in Mass General Brigham' systems and then resubmitting referral requests to the insurance company.

• Responsible for communicating benefit plan information to patients when necessary and following-up with insurance companies and/or patients to ensure information has been updated with payers.

• Works with all Mass General Brigham Support Staff and leadership to prioritize and facilitate referral processes to maintain integrity of service standards.

• Develops a clear understanding of the various payor referral and authorization process and requirements for departmental policies and procedures.

• Serves as a resource to providers, support staff and patients regarding the referral and authorization process; researches questions thoroughly and assists with interpretation of health plan guidelines.

• Receives inquiries from customers, investigates and disseminates information to requestor and wider audiences as appropriate.

• Works EPIC work queues to review billing rejections and resolve insurance issues to maximize reimbursement. This includes, but is not limited to, obtaining retroactive referral numbers for bills that were denied for no referral.

• Identifies need for escalation of issues or problems to appropriate supervisor or manager.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• High school diploma or equivalent required. Associate or Bachelor's Degree preferred.

• Minimum of 3 years of Registration, Scheduling and Insurance Authorization experience within a healthcare setting is required

• An effective team player with strong inter-personal skills

• Demonstrated ability to work and make decisions in a fast paced, high volume work environment

• Proficient with office software packages such as word processing and spreadsheets, including Epic and any other system the PSC may be utilizing

• Call Center environment experience

• 5 years of customer service experience is required

• Experience with EPIC and medical office workflows required

• Proficient computer skills; Experience with Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word and Excel)

Skills/Abilities:

• The ability to set prioritize and follow through with responsibilities

• Ability to exercise appropriate judgment with sensitive and confidential material

• The ability to successfully resolve conflict

Ability to communicate and interact effectively with all levels of hospital personnel

• Ability to maintain confidentiality with regard to all phases of the work

• Ability to withstand the pressure of continual deadlines and receipt of work with variable requirements

• Ability to concentrate and maintain accuracy in spite of frequent interruptions

• Ability to be courteous, tactful, and cooperative throughout the working day

• Ability to use judgment in carrying out all phases of the work

• Ability to use standard office equipment including computers, photocopy and facsimile machines, and readers/printers

Excellent Customer Service Skills, demonstrated ability to use appropriate judgment, independent thinking and creativity when resolving customer issues.