[Hiring] Patient Access Liaison, Lead @University of Southern California

Role Description

Serves as primary point of contact for access to USC academic medical centers and USC Health Sciences Campus. Under the direction of the Access Center Leadership, the Lead will serve as the point of contact for the team members, including assigning daily duties, workload balancing, scheduling and leads daily huddles. In addition, the Lead will act as the service recovery contact for any patient/customer matters. The lead also answers, screens and directs incoming and outgoing telephone calls for multiple areas within the department, electronic messages and other web-based communications using a call management system. Responds to basic inquiries and refers other inquiries to appropriate medical personnel. Contacts and distributes messages to medical personnel using a variety of electronic methods including text, voice and email systems. The Patient Access Liaison Lead will also be responsible to schedule and confirm initial and follow-up medical appointments, registers patients, including verifying insurance coverage to advise patient of any estimated financial responsibility. The lead will be expected to work independently and to lead and assist with various department projects when needed.

Essential Duties

• Demonstrates competency in the quality of work and knowledge of a Patient Access Representative.
• Strives for first call resolution and demonstrates high level of customer service.
• Maintains warm, courteous and professional behavior in accordance with the USC/Keck customer service standards while interacting with contacts, both internal and external.
• Maintains consistent accuracy in all tasks associated with job role and tasks and responsibilities daily.
• Exhibits collegial and professional demeanor in all interactions.
• Contributes effectively as a productive team member to the Patient Access Center and USC/Keck.
• Follows USC/Keck Communications standard and policy.
• Floats as needed to any area within the organization as assigned by Management.
• Expected to work from home as/when organizationally deployed, following the departmentally established guidelines and expectations for remote work.
• Other duties as assigned.
• May page physicians as dictated by internal procedures, correctly, professionally and in a timely manner.
• May perform follow up checks with all open pages while on shift and before leaving shift.
• Demonstrates proficiency in ensuring that all information housed within the Call Management system and Qgenda is sent for updates to management and readily accessed when needed.
• Answers, screens and directs incoming and outgoing telephone calls, electronic messages, omnichannel contacts and other web-based communications using the organizational communications management system. Transfers telephone calls to the appropriate department or medical personnel.
• Processes messages following departmental procedure and ensuring compliance with HIPAA regulations.
• Assists with staff and patient concerns courteously and professionally.
• Utilizes organizationally defined systems to perform patient communication.
• Performs scheduling functions, across multiple clinical sites and clinical divisions as needed, to include scheduling, rescheduling cancellations and confirmations of appointments using organizational scheduling system. Demonstrates and models extensive knowledge of Specialty assignment(s).
• Schedules medical diagnostics and outpatient procedures.
• Creates and maintains medical data and reconciles to patient appointment records.
• Coordinates care with patient coordinators, nurses and physicians to secure appointments, including multiple appointment types, for patients and referring physicians.
• Analyzes multiple schedules to provide adequate access to patients.
• May perform data entry and maintain databases for bumps and cancellations.
• Verifies insurance coverage using organizationally defined process. May determine if patient’s insurance is contracted with USC and advise patient of any estimated financial responsibility.
• Using USC/Keck defined guidelines, and at their discretion, carries out Service Recovery activity. Serves as first point of escalation for Service Recovery forwarded by Level 1 and Level 2 staff members. May escalate to any Supervisor within the Patient Access Center.
• Serves as a key resource for Patient Access Center information.
• May assist support and/or Patient Access Center leadership with updates or changes to foundational process, including scheduling protocols, scripting, Master Schedules and training delivery and materials as needed.
• Provides direction, guidance and ad hoc training (as needed) to Level 1 and Level 2 staff, both on campus and remote/work-from-home staff.
• May assist Supervisor(s) with conducting huddles, identifying affinity assignments, reporting needs as identified, appointment conversions and/or any special projects.
• May create and/or maintain data for Provider Master Schedule(s).
• May assist Patient Access Center leadership with staffing planning, staffing projections and staff scheduling to ensure adequate coverage.
• As directed by Patient Access Center leadership, facilitates implementation and communication to staff of security and/or emergency standards.

Qualifications

• High school or equivalent.
• Three (3) to five (5) years’ experience working in a call center and/or in a healthcare customer service department/environment (or combination of that equals two or more years) required.
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills.
• Strong leadership skills.
• Ability to multi-task.
• Cross trained in multi-specialty areas.
• Knowledge of insurance.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Associate's or Bachelor's degree in healthcare, business or operations field.
• Vocational certificates in healthcare preferred: appointment scheduling, registration, insurance verification, medical assistant.
• One (1) year of lead experience.
• Knowledge of HIPAA compliance and various health insurance types preferred.
• Knowledge of medical terminology strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of high-level computer literacy with practice management scheduling systems preferred.
• Bilingual: Spanish, Chinese and other languages preferred.

Required Licenses/Certifications

• Fire Life Safety Training (LA City): If no card upon hire, one must be obtained within 30 days of hire and maintained by renewal before expiration date. (Required within LA City only)

Benefits

The hourly rate range for this position is $23.92 - $40.66. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Company Description

USC Care Medical Group serves as the sole physician entity reporting to the USC Health System, uniting faculty clinical practice under Keck Medicine of USC. This entity oversees clinical governance, physician and ambulatory services, and core enterprise functions including billing, contracting, and financial operations. The organization encompasses 17 clinical departments, with approximately 1,500 physicians and 2,000 staff delivering care across more than 80 locations from Kern County to Orange County and into Las Vegas. USC Care Medical Group is the engine for patient-centered growth—advancing quality, safety, access, and financial strength through integrated, system-level thinking that transcends silos and traditional models. By building bridges across the enterprise, embracing innovation, and leveraging technology, we deliver seamless, 5-Star access and service while expanding clinical reach and diversified models of care. Our work fuels a sustainable cycle of good health—organizationally, financially, and within the communities we serve—driving continued growth from within and beyond the system’s boundaries.