At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better health care, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. We pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, our goal is to take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?

The BHS Business Office Representative reflects the mission, vision, and values of NM, adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.

BHS business office representatives coordinate the process of admitting patients, verifying insurance information, reconciling charge reports, resolving patient inquiries and supporting the Employee Assistance Program. This position supports all BHS clinical staff and provides accurate insurance and billing information while ensuring compliance with NM revenue cycle requirements.

Responsibilities:

Patient satisfaction:

• Provides outstanding, courteous, prompt and professional customer service to all customers.
• Protects behavioral patient privacy at all times, verbally and physically, by checking for release of information before confirming a patient’s presence, securing work station and paper records, and using patient first names only.
• Provides customer support by answering overflow phone calls from main reception line.  Adheres to answer time metrics to ensure calls are being answered in a timely manner.
• Registers and admits BHS patients efficiently and accurately in Epic.
• Verifies benefits for all BHS patients for all levels of care. Scans and notes benefits accurately in Epic.
• Accurately communicates with patients (and family members when appropriate) including explanation of benefits, NWM policies for deposits and discounts, and financial aid.
• Acts as advisor to ED social work staff in order to expedite ED patient placement.
• Monitors all internal and external Employee Assistance Program (EAP) requests.  Facilitates EAP assignment process for all EAP clients accurately within 24 business hours of requests.

Revenue cycle support:

• Maintains working knowledge of behavioral health (BH) insurance plans and specific insurance contracts for all BHS sites.  Guides clinical teams accurately helping to ensure proper patient placement.
• Monitors and corrects insurance on all BHS inpatient accounts.  Guides inpatient psychiatry HUCs and Admin techs in proper insurance codes and document scanning.
• Reconciles daily outpatient charge reports and facilitates corrections.
• Demonstrates ability to problem solve moderately complex billing, coding and contractual issues..
• Prepares monthly billing statements and provides reports for external Employee Assistance Program (EAP) accounts. Closely monitors EAP account payments and facilitates reminders and account collection as needed.
• Processes copayments, miscellaneous recovery living and Employee Assistance Program payments, and prepares bank deposits.
• Audits charts for key information and provides reports to management staff, ensuring compliance with JCAHO requirements.

Departmental productivity support:

• Demonstrates the ability to be flexible, adaptive to change, and handle stressful situations in a mature, professional manner. 
• Shows proficiency in covering for all BHS support positions.
• Provides ongoing leadership and support for reception positions.
• Completes special assignments and projects while consistently meeting targets, timetables and deadlines while coordinating clerical work for the department.
• Provides accurate precertification requirements to BHS Intake, BHS Utilization Review and ED social work team. Interfaces daily with clinical staff to communicate benefit status and anticipated patient copayments.
• Processes and tracks supply orders and People Soft requisitions for BHS staff.
• Attends staff meetings and contributes to department process improvement.

Required

• High school diploma or equivalent
• Minimum of 4 years of office or customer service experience in a health care setting
• Basic knowledge of medical terminology
• Basic knowledge of commercial and government insurance plans

Preferred

• Previous experience working in a behavioral health treatment environment
• Proficient in Epic scheduling and registration
• Excellent communication skills, ability to prioritize work flow continuously and multitask efficiently

Northwestern Medicine is an equal opportunity employer (disability, VETS) and does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of age, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation or any other protected status.

Background Check

Northwestern Medicine conducts a background check that includes criminal history on newly hired team members and, at times, internal transfers. If you are offered a position with us, you will be required to complete an authorization and disclosure form that gives Northwestern Medicine permission to run the background check.  Results are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and we follow all local, state, and federal laws, including the Illinois Health Care Worker Background Check Act.

Artificial Intelligence Disclosure

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools may be used in some portions of the candidate review process for this position, however, all employment decisions will be made by a person. 

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits that provide employees with tools and resources to improve their physical, emotional, and financial well-being while providing protection for unexpected life events. Please visit our Benefits section to learn more.

Sign-on Bonus Eligibility (if sign-on bonus offered for position): Internal employees and rehires who left Northwestern Medicine within 1 year are not eligible for the sign on bonus. Exception: New graduate internal employees seeking their first licensed clinical position at NM may be eligible depending upon the job family.