Patient Financial Coordinator/Cert Application Counselor

UnityPoint Health; Fort Dodge (IA); On-site; USD 25,000 - 36,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Parental leave

401K matching

Employee recognition program

Dental and health insurance

Paid holidays

Short and long-term disability

Pet insurance

Daily Pay (early access to earned W)**

Tuition reimbursement

Adoption assistance

Job summary

UnityPoint Health is seeking a dedicated Patient Financial Counselor / Certified Application Counselor for its Fort Dodge onsite team. This full-time role involves helping patients understand insurance, explore financial assistance options, and navigate Medicaid or Marketplace enrollment.

The counselor will work within the Financial Clearance department to resolve complex accounts and educate patients on payment options.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED is required.
• One year of experience in Patient Access or Billing with third-party payers preferred.
• MarketPlace certification within 6 months of employment; Medicaid Presumptive certification within 3 months.

Responsibilities

• Counsels patients via phone or in person; reviews accounts for outstanding balances and discusses payment options.
• Monitors self-pay accounts in assigned work queues.
• Assess insurance eligibility and determine available options for Medicaid/Marketplace enrollment.
• Educate patients about insurance, deductible amounts, and patient responsibility.
• Maintain accurate documentation in Epic and other systems; follow up with external agencies as needed.
• Collaborate with other departments to ensure a coordinated financial assistance process.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Empathy

Time management

Education

High school diploma or GED

Tools

Epic

Excel

Word

Access

Job description

• Salary Range: $18.34–$26.00 per hour, depending on experience and qualifications
• Shift: Monday-Friday Day Shift 8-4:30pm
• Job ID: 189052

• Area of Interest: Patient Services
• Salary Range: $18.34–$26.00 per hour, depending on experience and qualifications
• FTE/Hours per pay period: 1.0
• Department: Financial Clearance
• Shift: Monday-Friday Day Shift 8-4:30pm
• Job ID: 189052

Overview

Location: Onsite at Ft Dodge Trinity Health

Shift/Hours: Full-Time, 40 hours/week, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm

Patient Financial Counselor / Certified Application Counselor

Make healthcare finances easier to navigate. Behind every account is a person who may need help understanding insurance, medical expenses, or where to turn for assistance. As a Patient Financial Counselor/Certified Application Counselor, you’ll be the person who helps connect the dots.

You’ll assess patients’ financial and insurance needs and help identify possible solutions, including Medicaid, Marketplace coverage, community resources, and UnityPoint Health financial assistance. More importantly, you’ll educate and guide patients through their options so they understand what comes next.

In this role, you will:

• Help patients understand insurance, financial assistance, and payment options.
• Facilitate Medicaid and Marketplace enrollment processes.
• Review complex self-pay and high-dollar inpatient and outpatient accounts.
• Help resolve financial concerns involving deductibles, out-of-pocket expenses, pending claims, and previous balances.
• Partner across UnityPoint Health departments to provide coordinated financial support.
• Create a compassionate, convenient experience that reduces the need for patients to contact multiple departments for answers.

If you enjoy problem-solving, working with people, and turning complicated information into clear next steps, this role offers an opportunity to make a difference every day.

Bring your compassion, attention to detail, and desire to help others to a role where your work truly impacts the patient experience.

Why UnityPoint Health?

At UnityPoint Health, you matter. We’re proud to be recognized as a Top 150 Place to Work in Healthcare by Becker's Healthcare several years in a row for our commitment to our team members. Our competitive Total Rewards program offers benefits options that align with your needs and priorities, no matter what life stage you’re in. Here are just a few:

• Expect paid time off, parental leave, 401K matching and an employee recognition program.
• Dental and health insurance, paid holidays, short and long-term disability and more. We even offer pet insurance for your four-legged family members.
• Early access to earned wages with Daily Pay, tuition reimbursement to help further your career and adoption assistance to help you grow your family.

With a collective goal to champion a culture of belonging where everyone feels valued and respected, we honor the ways people are unique and embrace what brings us together.

And, we believe equipping you with support and development opportunities is a vital part of delivering an exceptional employment experience.

Find a fulfilling career and make a difference with UnityPoint Health.

Responsibilities

• Each day obtains work by referral and by accessing Epic, work queues, reports and daily house census.
• Counsels patients via phone or in person, reviews patient’s previous accounts for outstanding balances, and financially counsels them on all options of payments.
• Monitors and works, on a daily basis, all the self-pay accounts from the assigned work queues.
• Assess patient’s financial/insurance information in order to determine insurance eligibility.
• Gather financial data to complete initial assessment.
• Follow up with Department of Human Services and all other Public Agencies regarding application progress.
• Reviews Department of Human Services decisions for enrollment in applicable states.
• Ensure that all follow-up with the Department of Human Services has been completed for and by the patient.
• Assess patient/consumers for other Community Assistance Agencies.
• Ensure that all options have been exhausted, prior to the patient qualifying for Financial Assistance.
• Tracks financial impact of PFC/CAC Program.
• Works closely with the CBO to ensure that there is cohesiveness of processes and no duplication of efforts.
• Communicates effectively with Case Managers to impact their plan of care.
• Educate patients, employees and physicians regarding Medicaid and Marketplace place insurances that may be available.
• Possesses excellent time management skills to ensure that patients being discharged are counseled, prior to handling other less “time sensitive” responsibilities.
• Maintains billing and collection tracking spreadsheets that captures patients and account disposition/resolution.
• Completes and submits Medicaid and/or ACA Applications for patients that may potentially qualify in a timely and accurate manner.
• Educates consumers/patients on Quality Health Plans, deductible, out-of-pocket, government subsidies, etc.
• Maintains, extensive and current, knowledge of Marketplace plans with Iowa and if appropriate Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin exchanges.
• Completes annual CAC Training for UPH as well as CMS. Displays all Certificates, at all times, when assisting consumers in office or in person.
• Provides fair, impartial, accurate information to assist consumers when submitting the eligibility application.
• Assists Registration in maintaining a working knowledge of a patients Medicare life time reserve days. Educates the patient and obtains a consent form regarding their options.
• Calculates and/or estimates expected charges, third party payor portion and patient portion.
• Communicates insurance coverage and patient liability portions to patients or representatives.
• Explains to hospital credit and collection policies, payment options and refers to Cashiers for account negotiations.
• Assists patients in completing UPH Financial Assistance Application if necessary. And, Forwards all appropriate documents to the CBO.
• Documents actions in all appropriate computer systems. Documentation must be thorough and include current account disposition and direction of future activities.
• Performs follow-up and maintains all assigned work que accounts.
• Updates patient insurance information in Epic as new data is received and communicates changes to appropriate parties.
• Facilitates Cobra account appropriateness.

Qualifications

EDUCATION: High school graduate or GED equivalent is required.

EXPERIENCE: One year previous experience in Patient Access or Billing required with demonstrated competency working with third party payers to meet notification and pre-cert requirements. Knowledge of third party payer processes and billing procedures required. Must have experience using computer based software including word, excel and access data bases, minimum typing of 40 wpm. Accurate data entry with numbers, letters and the ability to spell medical terms correctly is required. Previous customer service is desired, but all staff members must have the ability to work with all age groups in a professional and positive manner.

LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS: Obtains MarketPlace certification within 6 months of employment and maintains this certification while in the position. Obtains Medicaid Presumptive certification with 3 months of employment and maintains this certification while in this position. Medical Terminology