DescriptionThe Patient Advocate coordinates communication between patients, family members, medical and clinical teams, and leadership in order to resolve patient concerns and provide quality care. Serves as a trusted informational resource, communication channel, and patient conflict resolution point of contact. Promotes and fosters effective relationships between patients, medical and clinical teams, and the organizationESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Serves as a liaison between medical and clinical teams, patients, and their families to provide confidential assistance in resolution of patient quality-of-care concerns and program effectiveness. Participates in daily review calls with leadership, providing valuable analysis and feedback about patient quality-of-care. Conducts fact-finding, assesses the overall gravity of patient situations, and meets with compliance offer to discuss issues. Based on an analysis of the situation, collaborates with the compliance officer to assist all parties in a resolution of the patient dispute. Prepares concise, factual reports and correspondence to present to the compliance officer. Attends applicable meetings with executive team, leadership, and others to identify areas for program improvement. Develops collaborative relationships with other departments to provide and facilitate a fair, open-minded, and creative resolution process for all patients. Collects and maintains data in order to evaluate patient concerns. Analyzes data to determine patterns of patient complaints and trends affecting care and presents it to the leadership team. In collaboration with leadership, assists in the development of performance improvement plans based on data collection, with a focus on patient-centered outcomes. Identifies opportunities for improvement to policies and practices, which contribute to systemic patient conflicts, concerns, and or complaints. Point of contact for all patient education needs. Thoroughly documents and provides feedback to leadership on all patients that complete or leave the program. Collaborates with leadership based on patient feedback to assess whether amendments to the overall program are needed. Carries out patient requests applicable to the program. Assures that patients' rights are met at all times. All other duties as assigned. RequirementsMINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:Bachelor's degree in a related discipline; master's preferred.Licensure or Certification in a related field (Addiction Counseling, Social Work, Mental Health Counseling, etc.)At least three (3) years' relevant work experience in healthcare, preferably in substance treatment.Preferred: bilingual in English/Spanish.Proficiency using Microsoft Office Systems.Experience working with an EMR system.SKILLS:Caring attitude and a sympathetic disposition to provide emotional support to all clients.Excellent verbal and written communication skills.Excellent listening skills.Excellent organizational skills, time management skills, and attention to detail.Excellent critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, and active learning skills.Experience building strong, diverse client and staff relationships.Strong public speaking abilities to relay information effectively to clients, staff, and other necessary parties.Ability to act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
