Kathleen Garcia
Scheduler, Patient Financial Counselor
Phoenix,Arizona
Summary
Seeking a position where my professional experience and education will allow me to make an immediate contribution as an integral part of a progressive company. A position where I can utilize proven people-oriented skills to develop and promote a positive work environment.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
SCHEDULER/PATIENT REGISTRATION FINANCIAL COUNSELOR SPECIALIST
BANNER BEHAVIORAL HOSPITAL SCOTTSDALE
- Coordinate with the patient,physician, insurance company and hospital on the complete pre-certification process, including obtaining PCP referrals when needed
- Dealing with highly irritated, uncooperative and Court mandated patients using strong patient service skills attempting to keep these patients calm and/or using your knowledge to call for help in keeping the situation under control at all times
- Contacting insurances for behavioral health coverage and authorizations as needed
- Verification of insurance coverage and benefits
- Explaining patients benefits and costs including completing AHCCCS applications if needed after pre-screening patients for the need of financial assistance programs
LEAD PATIENT REGISTRATION SPECIALIST
Maricopa Integrated Hospital
Phoenix, AZ
02.2000 - 08.2004
- Registration of ER/PEDS/BURN Unit and TRAUMA patients efficiently, accurately and in a timely manner
- Assigning employees duties beginning of shift
- Collection of patients copayments or private pay monies at time of discharge
- Nightly deposits including balancing of payment report balances
- Training new employees on our STAR Software and the registration process and knowledge of HIPPA regulations and compliance
- Assisting Shift Supervisor with reports as needed
- Handling complaints from patients and their family members, other staff (coworkers) from different departments
PCC SCHEDULER REMOTE
Dignity Health
Phoenix, AZ
01.2005 - Current
- Coordinate with the patient,physician, insurance company and hospital on the complete pre-certification process, including second opinions and tertiary referrals
- Registration of ER patients, obtaining insurance information, demographics and inputting information accurately, confidentiality being high priority adhering to HIPPA regulations
- Process additional information requests and coordinate with the insurance billing
- Review OB patients protocols and determine insurance benefits and patient responsibility
- Establish payment arrangements with the patient and fully document the appropriate practice management system
- Process oral medication prescriptions for potential office dispensing
- Work with pharmaceutical companies and other outside resources to obtain grants and financial aid for patients in need
- Perform other duties as assigned
Scheduler/Registration Specialist
HonorHealth Gastroenterology
04.2014 - 05.2021
- Acts as a first point of contact to all patients
- Organizes and facilitates clerical/non-clinical administrative duties of department
- Performs a variety of cross-functional clerical and patient support duties to include telephone,registration, scheduling clerical administrative duties and/or data entry duties as they relate to department
- Responsible for patient chart maintenance and communication with physicians offices as needed and requested
- Duties listed below may vary depending on departmental needs or in some department areas may not be applicable at all
- Contacts/greets and communicates with customers/patients
- Responsible for answering telephone calls, retrieving and responding to voicemail messages
- Directs all information to appropriate individuals
- Orients patients to the department with directions and instructions
- Receives and transfers incoming calls
- Generates reports and retrieves images from the PACS system
- Assists in maintaining efficient patient workflow
- Maintains ALL records and ensures dissemination of such files to designated/requesting parties
- Ensures patients are appropriately prepared for their exam
- Assist Supervisor,Radiologist and or Technologists within scope of position as directed
- Performs a variety of scheduling for procedures
- Is not limited to: scheduling patients for initial and follow-up appointments
- Tracks no-shows,documents in appropriate systems and communicates with physicians, if applicable
- Provides schedule in directed format to staff
- Completes and submits daily deposits and or billing as applicable
- In accordance with HIPPA, completing patient charts and maintaining appropriate information.
Patient Financial Counselor / Outpatient Scheduler/ER Registration
Abrazo Health
06.2009 - 09.2013
- Consult with patients on various financial options available to pay their account
- Initiated start up of financial program
- Coordinated volunteers and marketed the program through various community relations activities
- Process department payroll, Medicare claims and secondary insurance
- Assisted in developing Medicare Assistance Program and wrote initial policy and procedures
- Assisted in developing the first Pre-Certification Program for the hospital: conducted research for the program
- Follow up on insurance and patient aging
- Re-submit insurance claims as necessary
- Knowledgeable in timely filing restrictions
- Reconciled insurance and patient payments
- Researched/resolved incorrect payments
- EOB rejections, and other issues with outstanding accounts
- Responsible for accurate and timely booking of new accounts and charge ord
- Ers within the billing system to insure submission of clean claims per filing time
- Identify and work to minimize potential financial risk of patient accounts through working daily time of service reports
- Reviews patients medical records, for correct coding and diagnosis, to assure accurate billing and rapid turnaround of claims submitted to the insurance companies
- Ac as a resource representative when questions arise regarding registration errors, proper insurance documentation and accounting correction
- Daily use of Medical Terminology, ICD-10 and HCPS Level 2 coding
Education
Certificate - Paralegal Studies
American Institute of Paralegals
Phoenix, AZ09.1988
Skills
- Patient Registration
- Registration Processing
- Admissions Screening
- Demographics Information
- Critical Thinking
- Data Confirmation
- Registration Services
- Registration Requirements
- Verifying Eligibility
- Insurance Verification
- Clerical Support
- Appointment Scheduling and Confirmation
- Customer Accounts Management
- Standards Compliance
- Customer Inquiries
- Direct Supervision
- Appointment Scheduling
- Patient Data Privacy
- Workflow Processes
- Prescription Refills
- Insurance Coordination
- Customer Needs Assessments
- Payment Collection
- Electronic Health Records Systems
- Confidentiality Requirements
- Electronic Recordkeeping
- Patient Information Management
- Communications Strategies
- Patient Health Information Access
- Customer Satisfaction
- Authorization Input
- Patient Admission
- Administrative Support
- Collections Processing
- Data Communications
- Complex Problem-Solving
- Payment Plan Options
- Medicare Regulation
- Medical Recordkeeping
- Call Transfers
- Route Messages
- Taking Client Histories
- Answer Telephones
- Adaptable and Flexible
Accomplishments
- Used Microsoft Excel to develop inventory tracking spreadsheets.
- Supervised team of Number staff members.
- Achieved Result by completing Task with accuracy and efficiency.
- Documented and resolved Issue which led to Results.
- Achieved Result by introducing Software for Type tasks.
Certification
Certification of Achievement (2003)
American Institute Of Paralegal (1989)
Languages
Spanish
Native or Bilingual
Timeline
Scheduler/Registration Specialist
HonorHealth Gastroenterology
04.2014 - 05.2021
Patient Financial Counselor / Outpatient Scheduler/ER Registration
Abrazo Health
06.2009 - 09.2013
PCC SCHEDULER REMOTE
Dignity Health
01.2005 - Current
LEAD PATIENT REGISTRATION SPECIALIST
Maricopa Integrated Hospital
02.2000 - 08.2004
Certificate - Paralegal Studies
American Institute of Paralegals
SCHEDULER/PATIENT REGISTRATION FINANCIAL COUNSELOR SPECIALIST
BANNER BEHAVIORAL HOSPITAL SCOTTSDALE
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