Clinical Application Specialist, Revenue Cycle/Scheduling - AZ/IL
Midwestern University

Summary

The Clinical Application Specialist, Revenue Cycle/Scheduling reports to the Clinical Application Manager, Revenue Cycle/Scheduling and is responsible for supporting, maintaining, and upgrading the key medical applications, modules, and their dependencies at the clinic. The role provides support to faculty and students who need assistance with accessing and utilizing the applications.

The Clinical Application Specialist will assist with coordinating all issues that arise during the project for their application areas and must be knowledgeable about the organization's policies, procedures, and business operations. The incumbent will leverage their understanding of the operational practices of scheduling and payer authorization, including nuances of provider schedules within Midwestern University, scheduling practices for certain types of visits, and how these practices relate to the medical record flow for appointments. Provide their expertise in areas that integrate with check-in, registration, benefits, referrals, PCP assignment, and orders. The incumbent is expected to provide their knowledge and understanding in a wide array of integration points including revenue cycle management or billing operations. This position may be located on the Glendale, AZ or Downers Grove, IL campus.

Essential Responsibilities       

• Assist with the support of the application’s end-users.
• Identify issues that arise in their application area as well as issues that impact other application teams, and work to resolve them.
• Support and guide workflow design, build and test the system, and analyze other technical issues associated with Epic software, or other EHR systems/applications.
• Identify and implement requested changes to the system.
• Serve as a liaison between end users' workflow needs and Epic implementation staff.
• Maintain regular communication with Epic representatives or other EHR vendors, including participating in weekly project team meetings.
• Collaborate with Epic representatives, EHR vendors, MWU leadership, and end users to ensure the system meets the organization's business needs regarding the project deliverables and timeline.
• Develop an understanding of operational needs to set the direction for the organization's workflows by attending site visits and other integrated sessions.
• Participate in training and work with end users.
• Troubleshoot problems and questions.
• Review the status of projects and issues on an ongoing basis with leadership.
• Hold weekly communications with team members to discuss the status of deliverables, shared issues, end‐user concerns, budget, and upcoming milestones.
• Maintain and update the different critical medical systems, their different components, dependencies, and modules used throughout the organization.
• Attend meetings with the different department specialties on a weekly or monthly basis.
• Implement changes within the applications or implement and test new systems to meet the needs of the organization or specialty.
• Maintain the different HL7 interfaces. Work with 3^rd party vendors to create new medical interfaces or to troubleshoot issues, working with state agencies or lab vendors. Duties involve reviewing medical data, creating labs and their results to insure they flow correctly into the system.
• Troubleshoot any issues found within the applications, modules, and their dependencies.
• Other duties as assigned.

Certification Requirements:

The Clinical Application Specialist, Revenue Cycle/Scheduling is required to attend Epic training and complete the respective Epic certification in one of the following areas (Welcome & MyChart, Eligibility & Referrals, Benefits, Reimbursement, Charge Routing, Claims & Remittance) within 4-6 months of starting the role. To ensure sufficient cross-training and coverage, each Specialist may be required to become certified in one or more of the listed Epic platforms after receiving their initial certification. 

Epic certifications require either in-person (Verona, WI) or virtual classroom training through Epic Systems. Most certifications require the trainee to submit a project and pass an exam. Passing the required certification is a condition of continued employment.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Must be able to work in a constant state of alertness and safe manner and have regular, predictable, in-person attendance. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Technical skills-strives to continuously build knowledge, skills, accuracy, and thoroughness
• Teamwork- contributes to building a positive team spirit
• Must possess excellent oral/written communication skills and the ability to prioritize and complete tasks
• The individual must be able to generate creative solutions and develop innovative approaches
• Must possess excellent project management and organizational skills

Other Qualifications

• Adaptability/flexibility – Demonstrated ability to be flexible with respect to changing end-user business needs.
• Critical thinking – Ability and willingness to see things in an open-minded way and examine an idea or concept from as many angles as possible.
• Dependability – Ability and willingness to take ownership of work activities and ensure that they are completed in an accurate, efficient, and timely manner.
• Initiative – Ability and willingness to recognize assignments or tasks that need to be completed, to seek out additional assignments or tasks, and to help others.
• Listening – Active listening skills, listening attentively to ensure that the intended message has been accurately received, holding responses until the person has finished making their point, and repeating information to ensure accuracy
• Problem Solving – Ability to proactively seek out solutions by logically examining, and interpreting information from various sources to determine a problem’s cause and develop a course of action to resolve the problem and prevent future occurrences.

Education and/or Experience      

Bachelor’s Degree required, preferably in IT or Healthcare related field. 3-5 years of experience working knowledge on Practice Management (PM) and Electronic Health Records (EHR) software applications. Experience working in a clinical setting desired. Prior experience with revenue cycle management or experience with billing operations strongly desired. Working knowledge of HIPAA compliance and other regulatory bodies from an information systems perspective.

The ideal candidate will have a strong level of understanding of Practice Management and EMR systems from an office workflow perspective and experience providing face-to-face customer support and strong interpersonal skills. Experience providing technical support and troubleshooting for software and hardware peripherals is essential. This person will work independently at times and function as an integral part of the team. IT certification in Cadence, Prelude, or Resolute is a plus.

Computer Skills                                               

Computer proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) required. EHR/PM Application experience preferred. Must have the ability and willingness to learn new software and systems as necessary.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl and push or pull equipment. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to finger, handle or feel, talk, and hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to ten pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include basic close vision.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate with occasional work near moving mechanical parts and occasional risk working near radiation.

Midwestern University is a private, not-for-profit organization that provides graduate and post-graduate education in the health sciences. The University has two campuses, one in Downers Grove, Illinois and the other in Glendale, Arizona. More than 6,000 full-time students are enrolled in graduate programs in osteopathic medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistant studies, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nurse anesthesia, cardiovascular perfusion, podiatry, optometry, clinical psychology, speech language pathology, biomedical sciences and veterinary medicine. Over 500 full-time faculty members and 400 staff members are dedicated to the education and development of our students in an environment that encourages learning, respect for all members of the health care team, service, interdisciplinary scholarly activity, and personal growth.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance plans as well as life insurance, short/long term disability and pet insurance.  We offer flexible spending accounts including healthcare reimbursement and child/dependent care account.  We offer a work life balance with competitive time off package including paid holiday’s, sick/flex days, personal days and vacation days.  We offer a 403(b) retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, child care subsidy reimbursement program, identity theft protection and an employee assistance program.  Wellness is important to us and we offer a wellness facility on-site with a fully equipped fitness facility. 

Midwestern University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not discriminate against an employee or applicant based upon race; color; religion; creed; national origin or ancestry; ethnicity; sex (including pregnancy); gender (including gender expressions, gender identity; and sexual orientation); marital status; age; disability; citizenship; past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services; genetic information; or any other protected class, in accord with all federal, state and local laws, including 41 C.F.R. 60-1.4(a), 250.5(a), 300.5(a) and 741.5(a). Midwestern University complies with the Smoke-Free Arizona Act (A.R.S. 36-601.01) and the Smoke Free Illinois Act (410 ILCS 82/).  Midwestern University complies with the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 and Arizona Equal Pay Acts.

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