A healthcare customer service representative works for a healthcare facility where his or her main job is to provide level 1 support to patients and their families. This includes assisting them with registration procedures, providing service and facility information, obtaining information such as medical histories, and coordinating delivery of care for registered patients.
If you want to work as a healthcare customer service representative, you will need to possess a high school diploma or a GED at the very least. If you have a background working in a medical facility, you may be considered a good contender for the job. However, this is not a necessity. What is necessary though, is the ability to organize information properly, provide customer services according to the policies and practices of the facility, and great communication skills. All this will help you slip into your customer service role with ease.
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are the busiest places in the world, which is why it is imperative to hire dedicated customer service representatives, so that they can assist the various requirements of patients, families and visitors. These people basically keep the reputation of a medical facility intact, allowing for smoothness in operations.
Here is a list of job duties that a healthcare customer service representative performs on a daily basis:
Healthcare Customer Service Representative Job Description
• Welcome customer / patients as they arrive at the CSR counter and inquire into how they would like to be assisted
• Provide necessary information regarding the facility’s services and doctors’ availability
• Obtain necessary patient information such as medical histories and insurance information and ensure that it is properly processed and recorded
• Contact insurance companies to verify coverage and benefits and provide doctors with feedback on coverage and copays
• Assist patients in understanding how their insurance coverage works and calculate and present copays
• Execute medical equipment and supplies orders from vendors and suppliers and ensure that they are expedited
• Follow-up with doctors and nurses to obtain necessary information to complete patients’ records
• Process payments for services rendered and assist with the billing procedure
• Provide feedback and information to coding and billing personnel in a bid to streamline accounting processes
• Respond to queries from customers / patients / family members and insurance companies over the telephone and through emails
• Monitor call status for responses from various departments to ensure that call returns are done in a timely manner
• Follow-up with callers within a specified period of time (24 hours usually) to ensure customer satisfaction