Patient Advocacy Coordinator - Hybrid

Job Summary

Under the direction of Patient Advocacy leadership in the Office of Patient Experience, the Patient Advocacy Coordinator is responsible for assisting in and carrying out the daily activities of the Section, with special emphasis on the organization's complaint and feedback process. Acting as a liaison between Administration and the complainant, or Health Plans, the Patient Advocacy Coordinator works closely with relevant stakeholders from across the organization in the coordination and management of patient complaints and grievances by ensuring documentation, investigation, resolution and follow-up in accordance with organizational policy, accreditation, regulatory and licensing requirements. Responsibilities include coordinating the daily activities of the department as they relate to complaints and grievances lodged by health plans, admitted, or discharged patients, including providing on-site rounds with patients and families, and handling high profile and/or complex situations by serving as an intermediate link between the complainant and management. Key responsibilities of this position include staff training and mentoring; assists with outreach, and education regarding grievance processes with key stakeholders; data maintenance and production/analysis of data reports related to the patient complaint and grievance process.

Key Responsibilities

• Acts as a liaison between the patient/family, Health Plans, Medical Staff Officers, Senior Leadership, service line and nursing management in the execution of the patient complaint and grievance processes. 
• Provides on-site rounds, meeting face to face with patients and families to assist in addressing concerns at the point of care and working collaboratively with clinical staff to document, escalate, and resolve issues as appropriate. 
• Analyzes the level of complaint(s) and determines appropriate interventions and escalation to unit management, Executives, Department Chairs, Peer Review, or Executive Leadership, ensuring all concerns are thoroughly assessed. Coordinates Patient Complaint and Grievance Process assuring timely and accurate triage, acknowledgement, follow-up, response and closure of complaints and grievances. Reviews follow-up responses to assure the complainants concerns are appropriately addressed, seeks out additional information as needed. In addition, judgment and experience are employed when preparing and signing acknowledgement and follow-up response letters, assures the complainants concerns are appropriately addressed. 
• Works collaboratively with relevant stakeholders including Medical Affairs, Risk Management, Legal Affairs, Privacy Office, Patient Financial Services, and others to provide thorough resolution and outcome to the nuances within complaints and grievances. 
• Performs accurate and timely data entry of all complaint information into the corresponding system databases. Establishes and maintains uniform, organized filing system and database records. 
• Refers all complaints and compliments in accordance with established process. Reports follow-up findings for MD Feedback cases to Medical Staff Leadership on a regularly basis. 
• Monitors expected turnaround for follow-up responses, documents and subsequent interactions with complainants in the corresponding systems. 
• Acts as a resource and serves to educate others within the institution regarding the grievance process; shares knowledge and guidance regarding de-escalation and conflict resolution and handling customer service issues.
• Assists in the development and presentation of educational outreach material, as needed. Including giving presentations regarding the complaint/grievance process, insurance grievances, or data reports related to the complaint/grievance process.
• Provides initial training and ongoing mentoring of new staff within the Patient Advocacy Department, serves as a role model and mentor for exemplary customer service. Serves as a source of advice, knowledge, guidance and direction in handling patient service issues and complaints. 
• Performs other duties as assigned. Performs clerical duties as needed to include, but not limited to, coordination and implementation of processes and programs foundational to the mission of the Office of Patient Experience and Cedars-Sinai.

Education

Minimum of HS Diploma or GED is required

Bachelor's Degree Preferred

Experience

2 years Customer service related position with experience in handling customer complaints Required

1 year Experience in a healthcare setting with general knowledge of hospital systems and functions Preferred

: 1799

: Patient Advocacy Coordinator - Hybrid

: Patient Advocacy

: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

: Patient Services

: Patient Relations

: NONEXEMPT

: Day

: 8 hour

: $31.98 - $49.57

Cedars-Sinai does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of the race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, physical or mental disability, legally protected medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics or any genetic information), marital status, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, age (40 or older), military and/or veteran status or any other basis protected by federal or state law. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at [email protected] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Requests for accommodation will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

Cedars-Sinai will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, in accordance with the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring.

At Cedars-Sinai, we are dedicated to the safety, health and wellbeing of our patients and employees. This includes protecting our patients from communicable diseases, such as influenza (flu) and COVID-19. For this reason, we require that all new employees receive a flu vaccine based on the seasonal availability of flu vaccine (typically during September through April each year) as a condition of employment, and annually thereafter as a condition of continued employment, subject to medical exemption or religious accommodation. For the same reason, you may also be required to receive other vaccines such as COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Cedars-Sinai reserves the right to make modifications to its required list of vaccines as required by law and/or policy. Cedars-Sinai’s AA Policy Statement (PDF) (opens in new window)