Patient Access Navigator - Scheduling (Days)

tannercareers; Georgia; On-site; USD 34,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Tanner Health is seeking a Patient Access Navigator I to coordinate scheduling requests and validate scheduling requirements, ensuring accurate appointment placement and a positive patient experience.

The role supports efficient access to care, collaborates with provider offices, and follows established workflows and system guidance. Strong communication and multitasking are essential in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Education: High School Diploma or GED.
• Experience: Six months of related experience.
• Demonstrates accountability in supporting team workflows and departmental operations.
• Strong verbal and written communication with patients, provider offices, and staff.
• Ability to multitask across calls, workqueues, and digital workflows.

Responsibilities

• Access Optimization & Scheduling: process scheduling requests in work queues and ensure accurate appointment selection.
• Order & Clinical Requirement Validation: partner with provider offices to resolve discrepancies in orders and scheduling requirements.
• Throughput & Workqueue Management: prioritize calls and scheduling tasks to meet service levels.
• Maintain availability to support call handling and patient access operations during peak periods.
• Promote digital access tools (MyChart, E-Check-In) to improve patient experience and efficiency.

Skills

Escalation

Organizational skills

Workflows adherence

Communication

Multitasking

Customer service

Problem solving

Adaptability

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Job description

A Patient Access Navigator I supports patient access activities by coordinating scheduling requests, validating scheduling requirements, and assisting patients in navigating access to care. Follows established workflows, scheduling protocols, and system guidance to ensure accurate appointment placement, patient readiness, and a positive patient experience. Demonstrates accountability for completing assigned work accurately and timely while supporting efficient access to care and successful appointment outcomes.

Qualifications

Education:High School Diploma or GED

Experience:Six months of related experience

• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
• *Escalation & Support: Demonstrates accountability in supporting team workflows and departmental operations by actively contributing to shared workloads, assisting with coverage needs, and maintaining flexibility to meet changing patient access demands and performance expectations.
• *Demonstrated effective organizational and time management skills in a high-volume, fast-paced work environment
• *Ability to follow structured standard workflows, protocols, and system guidance with consistency and accuracy
• *Effective verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage professionally with patients, provider offices, and clinical staff to include advanced level practitioners and physicians. Further, demonstrates professionalism and the ability to collaborate effectively with peers, leadership, and internal hospital team members
• *Ability to multitask and manage competing priorities across calls, workqueues, and digital workflows
• *Strong customer service skills with the ability to actively listen, show empathy, and respond appropriately to patient needs
• *Basic problem-solving skills with the ability to recognize issues and elevate appropriately
• *Demonstrates adaptability to new systems, workflows, and process changes with the ability to maintain composure and productivity in a structured, performance-driven environment
• Licenses & Certifications:NONE REQUIRED

STATEMENT OF EMPLOYMENT PHILOSOPHY

Being a part of Tanner Health is more than a job, it is a promise we make to treat every patient with exceptional service every time they walk through our doors. Service excellence is the foundation of our organizational culture and the expectations we all set for each other, our patients, physicians and our community. All employees agree to abide by a set of service standards. These standards are the promise we make to provide the best care possible, and represent our beliefs, values and who we strive to become. We each commit to making Tanner Health a great place for our employees to work, for patients to receive care and for physicians to practice medicine.

JOB DEFINITION

A Patient Access Navigator I supports patient access activities by coordinating scheduling requests, validating scheduling requirements, and assisting patients in navigating access to care. Follows established workflows, scheduling protocols, and system guidance to ensure accurate appointment placement, patient readiness, and a positive patient experience. Demonstrates accountability for completing assigned work accurately and timely while supporting efficient access to care and successful appointment outcomes.

JOB FUNCTIONS

Essential Functions

• Access Optimization & Scheduling Accuracy: Reviews and processes scheduling requests generated from provider orders within assigned work queues, ensuring accurate appointment selection, appropriate resource utilization, and alignment with clinical and scheduling protocols. Ensures scheduling accuracy to reduce reschedules and downstream disruption.
• Order & Clinical Requirement Validation: Demonstrates ownership in proactively partnering with provider offices to identify, investigate, and resolve discrepancies in orders, documentation, and scheduling requirements, ensuring completeness and accuracy of all required elements to support timely scheduling, patient readiness, and downstream workflow integrity.
• Throughput & Workqueue Management: Actively prioritizes and manages scheduling calls, assigned inventory, and workqueues to ensure the right work is completed at the right time, supporting timely patient access and resolution within defined service level expectations. Seeks out support as needed to prevent delays.
• Throughput & Workqueue Management: Maintains consistent availability to support call handling and patient access operations, minimizing time off the call or messaging queue during peak periods, ensuring non-call time is used productively, to manage assigned workqueues and scheduling tasks.
• Digital Access Utilization: Demonstrates ownership in promoting and facilitating patient use of digital access and self-service tools, including MyChart enrollment, Ticket Scheduling, E-Check-In, and other patient-facing technologies, to enhance patient experience, improve access efficiency, reduce manual workload, and support adoption of digital front door initiatives.

Compliance Statement

Employee performs within the prescribed limits of Tanner Health's Ethics and Compliance program. Is responsible to detect, observe, and report compliance variances to their immediate supervisor, the Compliance Officer, or the Hotline.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:High School Diploma or GED

Experience:Six months of related experience

• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• *Escalation & Support: Demonstrates accountability in supporting team workflows and departmental operations by actively contributing to shared workloads, assisting with coverage needs, and maintaining flexibility to meet changing patient access demands and performance expectations.
• *Demonstrated effective organizational and time management skills in a high-volume, fast-paced work environment
• *Ability to follow structured standard workflows, protocols, and system guidance with consistency and accuracy
• *Effective verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage professionally with patients, provider offices, and clinical staff to include advanced level practitioners and physicians. Further, demonstrates professionalism and the ability to collaborate effectively with peers, leadership, and internal hospital team members
• *Ability to multitask and manage competing priorities across calls, workqueues, and digital workflows
• *Strong customer service skills with the ability to actively listen, show empathy, and respond appropriately to patient needs
• *Basic problem-solving skills with the ability to recognize issues and elevate appropriately
• *Demonstrates adaptability to new systems, workflows, and process changes with the ability to maintain composure and productivity in a structured, performance-driven environment

Licenses and Certifications:NONE REQUIRED

Specialty Job (TMG)?

• YES
• NO

Contact with Others:

Appreciable contacts as regular part of the job with others outside of the department or organization. Requires discretion and tact to give or get specialized information to perform duties of job.

Effect of Error

Probable errors may be serious and involve losses such as improper costs, overpayment, waste of material, damage to equipment, and delay in processing work. Effect usually confined within the organization. Most of work not subject to direct verification or check. Regularly works with some confidential data such as account, salaries, patient medical records, which if disclosed might have adverse internal or external effects.

Supervisory Responsibility

Exercises no supervision, work direction, or instruction of other employees or students.

People Management:

# Direct Resources Managed

# Indirect Resources Managed

Individual Contributor

Mental Demands

Semi-routine duties of some variety and difficulty performed under general supervision and following general operating procedures and practices. Work involves some planning to select correct methods and correct for error.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORKING CONDITIONS

Physical Effort

Light physical effort - Much of work done while sitting but with more than normal standing or walking. Handles light materials intermittently. Office or laboratory work requiring more than normal visual effort.

Physical Demands

• Balancing - N/A
• Bending - Occasionally
• Carrying - Occasionally
• Climbing - N/A
• Color Vision - Occasionally
• Crawling - N/A
• Driving -- CDL class vehicles - N/A
• Driving -- Class C vehicles - N/A
• Driving -- Utility vehicles such as golf carts, Gators, ATV, riding lawnmowers, skid steer, aerial lift - N/A
• Feeling (Touch) -- determining temperature, texture, by touching - N/A
• Handling -- seizing, holding, grasping - Occasionally
• Hazmat suit usage (PPE) - N/A
• Hearing - Constantly
• Kneeling - Occasionally
• Lifting 25 to 60 lbs. - N/A
• Lifting over 60 lbs. - N/A
• Lifting up to 25 lbs. - Occasionally
• Manual Dexterity -- picking, pinching with fingers etc. - Occasionally
• N95 Respirator usage (PPE) - N/A
• Pushing/Pulling -- 25 to 60 lbs. - N/A
• Pushing/Pulling -- over 60 lbs. - N/A
• Pushing/Pulling -- up to 25 lbs. - Occasionally
• Reaching -- above shoulder - Occasionally
• Reaching -- below shoulder - Occasionally
• Running - in response to an emergency - Occasionally
• Smelling - N/A
• Speaking - Constantly
• Squatting - N/A
• Standing - Occasionally
• Tasting - N/A
• Typing - Constantly
• Visual - Constantly
• Walking - Occasionally

Working Environment

Generally pleasant working conditions/normal office environment.