Registered Nurse - Intake

Oceans Healthcare; Waco (TX); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Oceans Healthcare seeks an Intake Clinician at Oceans Behavioral Hospital Waco to manage admissions inquiries, collect required information, and facilitate admissions decisions. The role emphasizes accurate data collection, collaboration with providers, and ensuring compliance with HIPAA and hospital policies.

The position requires a master’s degree in behavioral health or RN and experience with crisis or intake processes.

Qualifications

• Must understand admission criteria for varying levels of care and community resources.
• Must possess interpersonal skills to develop rapport with patients and referral sources.
• Must demonstrate the knowledge to assess care appropriate to age-related needs.
• Must be able to read, write, and follow verbal and written instructions.

Responsibilities

• Processes admission requests from outside referral agencies and the community.
• Reviews clinical packets and criteria for admission suitability.
• Completes Level of Care Assessments/Evaluations.
• Collaborates with On-Call Provider to determine disposition for patients.
• Maintains documentation within electronic medical record and internal systems.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication skills

Time management

Organizational skills

Education

Master's degree in Behavioral Health or RN

Job description

At Oceans Behavioral Hospital Waco, healing is our focus. We are passionate about helping adults and seniors manage the challenges associated with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. Utilizing proven, innovative and progressive therapies, our qualified professionals strive to promote long‑term wellness through a range of inpatient and outpatient psychiatric counseling and treatment options.
The Intake Clinician receives and responds to call inquiries for potential admissions and generalized questions. The Clinician obtains the required information to facilitate admissions and makes referrals for persons who are not appropriate for admission to the facility. The Clinician reviews pending admissions daily to ensure that clinical, financial, insurance, and administrative information has been accurately obtained and acted upon. The Intake Clinician completes Level of Care Assessments for any patient in need of evaluation within Intake. The Clinician works collaboratively with referral sources, community members, patients, the provider, and interdepartmentally to ensure the facility’s mission of providing exemplary patient care and customer service is upheld. The Clinician maintains the ability to provide excellent customer service to internal and external customers. The Clinician displays the ability to effectively listen, process received information, and express ideas verbally and in writing. The Clinician ensures that confidentiality of hospital employees and patient information to meet HIPAA and hospitals standards is upheld. The Clinician shows the ability to initiate action, take personal responsibility, suggest improvements, and solve problems within the scope of the position without being asked. The Clinician shows an understanding and complies with government regulations, regulatory and accreditation requirements, and hospital policies. The Clinician shows the ability to complete assigned work in an acceptable manner, in the time allotted, with minimal prompting or reminders.

Essential Functions:

• Admissions Process
  • Processes request for admission from outside referral agencies and from within the community
  • Maintains ability to review clinical packet for criteria in alignment with the capability and capacity of the facility
  • Maintains understanding of Admission and Exclusionary Criteria
  • Maintains understanding of EMTALA
  • Ensures that prior authorizations are obtained for admissions
  • Organizes information of patient’s current needs and provides a succinct clinical presentation to admitting physician
  • Completes Level of Care Assessments/Evaluations
  • Collaborates with On-Call Provider to determine appropriate disposition for the patient
• Communication
  • Handles sensitive information appropriately and acts in a fair and honest manner consistent with the Company’s Code of Conduct including reporting and violations
  • Builds and maintains communication processes to ensure efficient and effective transmission of information
  • Works collaboratively with all departments to create an environment that supports the facility’s mission
  • Ensures current state and federal regulatory and standards related to communication of incidents are met
  • Demonstrates timely communication of information to appropriate leadership channels commensurate with situation
• Customer Focus
  • Interacts with patient, family members, external entities and internal staff professionally and respectfully
  • Adheres to systems and processes that promotes a high level of commitment to anticipating, understanding and meeting the needs of patients, family, and other employees
  • Demonstrates an understanding of the community’s continuum of behavioral health resources
  • Acts to preserve patient and family dignity and safety
• Values Diversity
  • Takes measures to gain the perspectives from persons having diverse opinions, motivations, abilities, and ethnic and/or cultural backgrounds
  • Show appreciation for gender, race, age, and other differences
• Documentation
  • Completes required Admission documentation within electronic medical record and through internal web-based systems
  • Documentation for medical records and reports is timely, legible, thorough, and in required format
  • Adheres to documentation standards for the department and facility in compliance with regulatory requirements
  • Documentation as required including inquiry calls, assessments, managed care data, etc.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Educational / Experience Requirements:

• Masters’ degree in Behavioral Health field from an accredited college or university preferred; or Registered Nurse.
• Experience with crisis management or intake preferred

Qualifications / Skills:

• Must understand admission criteria for varying levels of care, medications commonly prescribed for treatment of psychiatric illness and community resources.
• Must possess interpersonal skills to develop rapport with presenting patient, family members and referral sources.
• Must demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to assess for care appropriate to any age-related/disability-related needs of the patient served.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development appropriate to the patient population served.
• Must be able to assess and interpret data about the patient's status in order to identify each patient's needs and provide appropriate referrals, including age related care and disability related care by Chronically Mentally Ill, Adult, Geriatric and Chemically Dependent patient populations.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of mental illness and chemical dependency and family dynamics which accompany them.
• Must have basic knowledge of Chronic Mental Illness and have knowledge of clinical therapy modalities.
• Must have excellent communication and skills as related to age specific patient needs.
• Must be able to demonstrate assessment skills.
• Must be able to pass the general age/disability post test.
• Must be versatile, flexible and able to perform in stressful situations.
• Must have good time management and organizational skills.
• Must be able to read, to write and to follow verbal and written instruction.
• Must be knowledgeable concerning DSM-IV-R diagnosis.
• Must successfully complete CPR certification and an Oceans approved behavioral health de-escalation program.

Work Environment:

Subject to many interruptions. Occasional pressure due to multiple calls and inquiries. This position can be high paced and stressful; must be able to cope mentally and physically to atmosphere. This person might sometimes experience disagreeable odors, sights and/or unpredictable patient behavior. Work requires spending approximately 90% or more of the time inside a building that offers protection from weather conditions but not necessarily from temperature changes.