Patient Experience Advocate

Firelands Health; Sandusky (OH); On-site; USD 42,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Tuition reimbursement

Loan forgiveness

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid time off

401(k)

Job summary

Firelands Health, serving the Sandusky Bay region, seeks a Patient Relations Specialist to enhance patient relations, collect feedback, and improve service delivery. The role emphasizes collaboration with care teams, advocacy for patient rights, and clear communication across departments.

Ideal candidates will have clinical healthcare experience, strong customer service skills, and the ability to navigate challenging situations with tact and diplomacy.

Qualifications

• Experience in a health care clinical field is required.
• Three years of relevant experience in a clinical care or health care related customer service.
• Achievement of patient advocacy certification within three years of accepting position.
• Strong customer service and interpersonal skills.
• Must be a team player and have proven success applying a team approach to obtain resolution or accomplish a goal.
• Must work with staff in a supportive way to troubleshoot and resolve issues.
• Must be visible to staff, offering support and modeling of service behaviors and concern resolution processes.
• Adaptability with a high tolerance for ambiguity.
• Proven analytic skills including analysis, planning, organizing, and troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a liaison for enhanced patient relations between the patient/family unit and staff.
• Coordinates the collection, analysis, and distribution of complaint and satisfaction feedback and action to the leadership team.
• Rounds on assigned patients each work day to proactively identify strengths and concerns expressed by patients and families.
• Engages with patient relative to the presenting needs including service, communication, basic comfort, and care assistance and referral.
• Demonstrates optimal attitude, commitment, and enthusiasm for patient satisfaction/customer service and collaboration with direct caregivers.
• Uses sound judgment to choose an appropriate level of response and the need to involve other members of the patient care team in coordinating timely, effective solutions to patient/staff needs.
• Assures appropriate communication of issues within the interdisciplinary team to drive consistency and coordination of care.
• Responds to suggestions and compliments provided by patients and provides positive reinforcement to patients and staff.
• Coordinates the receipt, investigation, problem-solving, communication, and correspondence related to patient complaints and grievances during the hospital stay and after discharge.
• Maintains an organized work flow that assures visibility with patients while establishing priorities among multiple tasks.
• Collaborates with Case Management and other transitions of care functions to accept and manage strengths and concerns throughout the continuum of care.
• Identifies and refers systems and issue related problems.
• Maintains a database of patient contacts, concerns, grievances and actions.
• Compiles complaint/grievance reports from multiple sources, inputs documentation into the database, maintains the grievance log and files, and produces activity reports for evaluation and communication.
• Correlates complaint/grievance findings with other feedback resources to clarify opportunities for improvement.
• Facilitates advocacy and services to assure patient rights.
• Participates on committees including SAMA, the ACE of Hearts Team, and Continuous Quality Improvement Team that focus on patient satisfaction.
• Maintains proficiency in computer programs related to organizational functioning.
• Serves as a contributor to the grievance log.
• Ability to be mobile, communicate effectively, and adequately understand oral and written communication from others.
• Maintains knowledge of current accreditation requirements and regulatory standards.

Skills

Customer service

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Team player

Adaptability

Analytical skills

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's degree in health care related field

Patient advocacy certification

Job description

Firelands Health, serving the Sandusky Bay region, seeks a Patient Relations Specialist to enhance patient relations, collect feedback, and improve service delivery. The role emphasizes collaboration with care teams, advocacy for patient rights, and clear communication across departments.

Ideal candidates will have clinical healthcare experience, strong customer service skills, and the ability to navigate challenging situations with tact and diplomacy.