Patient Relations Associate

bannerhealth; Mesa (AZ); Hybrid; USD 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Onsite training (6 weeks)

Job summary

Banner Health Corporate is seeking a Patient Relations Coordinator to manage inbound complaints and grievances across Banner Hospitals and Clinics. The role emphasizes compassionate de-escalation and clear documentation in a fast-paced environment.

The position begins with 6 weeks of onsite training in Mesa, then transitions to a hybrid schedule, Monday–Friday, 8:00am–4:30pm, supporting patient relations across entities and ensuring privacy and timely resolution.

Qualifications

• Experience handling patient complaints in healthcare settings.
• Ability to de-escalate patient or family member concerns with empathy.
• Strong documentation and record-keeping skills in case management.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the initial contact for patient relations issues when not on-site; de-escalate using compassionate communication.
• Coordinate, document, and track issues involving patients or families to ensure timely resolution.
• Maintain a comprehensive complaint database and follow up on resolutions with patients/families.
• Communicate with clinical leadership to obtain investigative findings and ensure privacy compliance (HIPAA).
• Analyze complaint patterns and raise concerns to PRSC team; identify areas affecting patient experience.
• Record all concerns in the system and assist with timely case entry and follow-up calls.
• Draft, proofread, and edit service recovery letters reflecting patient concerns and outcomes.
• Respond to non-clinical, billing, HIPAA-related, and behavioral issues as assigned.

Skills

Compassionate communication

De-escalation

Documentation

HIPAA privacy

Stakeholder liaison

Complaint handling

Job description

Primary City/State: Mesa, Arizona

Department Name: Clinical Risk Mgmt & Ptnt Rel

Work Shift: Day

Job Category: Risk, Quality and Safety

In this position you will record and document inbound complaints and grievances across all Banner Hospitals and Clinics. We are seeking a strong professional with medical experience who demonstrates compassion and composure when working with upset or distressed patients. The ideal candidate is reliable, focused, and comfortable interacting professionally with patients, providers, and staff in a fast-paced healthcare environment.

The training is onsite for 6 weeks at Mesa Corporate. After training, this position will be hybrid working Monday-Friday, 8am-4:30pm .

Within Banner Health Corporate, you will have the opportunity to apply your unique experience and expertise in support of a nationally-recognized healthcare leader. We offer stimulating and rewarding careers in a wide array of disciplines. Whether your background is in Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, Legal, Managed Care Programs or Public Relations, you'll find many options for contributing to our award-winning patient care.

POSITION SUMMARY

This position is responsible for answering incoming calls for Patient Relations and addressing patient relations issues across multiple entities from a centralized location. Primarily focused on de-escalating complaints and issues that arise when a patient or family member is not physically present at a Banner entity through a variety of modes including social media channels, e-mails, letters, satisfaction surveys etc. The coordinator I is responsible for treating all incidents in a compassionate manner, properly documenting the issue in our system and make initial determination as to what additional resources are needed and for less complex issues, may act as investigator and facilitator to ensure timely resolution. This could include grievance identification and resolution, serving as a liaison between patients/family members and facility staff in an effort to provide missing information and to build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with patients, their families and key constituencies, resulting in enhanced patient/family experience. This also includes follow up with patient by phone and/or in a written document.

CORE FUNCTIONS

1. Initial point of contact for any patient relations issues when someone is not physically present at an entity. Responds in a compassionate manner and de-escalates the complaints and issues through effective communication that conveys caring.
2. Leads, receives, coordinate, facilitates, documents and tracks all issues that occur when the patient or family member is not physically present at the entity. This also includes ensuring all processes are followed to achieve timely resolution of service and care related complaints and grievances, which may include review of patient records, escalation, adhering to applicable system guidelines and regulatory requirements.
3. Maintains comprehensive complaint database and records; works to promptly resolve complaints utilizing advanced problem solving and ensuring compliance with established authority guidelines and in a manner that is acceptable to all parties involved; follows-up with patient/family members regarding complaint and/or grievance resolution; prepares and maintains related letters, reports, documents, and/or other related correspondence.
4. Communicates directly with clinical and senior executive leadership to obtain thorough investigative findings in response to all stated concerns. Ensures entity representative has contacted patient to address stated concerns, if not managed by employee, per established process. Coordinates needed information to facilitate the completion of a letter to patient as needed. Must also ensure privacy and confidentiality of the patient and their information by complying with HIPAA and privacy policies.
5. Assists in analyzing complaint and/or grievance patterns and trends and bringing to the attention of PRSC Coordinate/Director. Identifies and communicates areas negatively impacting the patient/family experience, as well as vulnerability associated with risk and quality issues with appropriate management staff.
6. Records all incoming concerns/complaints into the record system. Ensure all data is collected to assist in the completion of investigative findings and patient/family callback information. Assists teammates with entering cases in a timely manner, and answering incoming calls.
7. May compose, proofread and edit service recovery letters, ensuring consistency of style and accuracy of spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax and idiom. Ensures that correspondence accurately reflects patient concerns and investigative outcomes.
8. Responsible for responding to assigned cases with non-clinical customer service issues, billing issues that are non-clinical, issues related to HIPAA only and behavioral issues that are not