Patient Advocate

General Summary of Position
The Patient Advocate is responsible for investigating and resolving patient complaints and grievances in partnership with staff present and hospital leadership to ensure a positive patient experience. The Patient Advocate will manage the complaint and grievance process and ensure department compliance with governmental and accreditation regulations. Maintains the tracking database analyzes trends and provides reports for hospital leadership.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• Contributes to the achievement of established department goals and objectives and adheres to department policies procedures quality standards and safety standards. Complies with governmental and accreditation regulations.
• Investigates and resolves patient complaints and grievances in partnership with staff present and hospital leadership. Performs service recovery and composes appropriate verbal and written responses to resolve their concerns amicably. Serves as Section 1557 Coordinator.
• Interacts with patients and their representatives by phone or in person in patient care areas including outpatient settings inpatient rooms and the Emergency Department. Escalates patient complaints and grievances for resolution and problem solving.
• Escalates concerns for claims or serious safety events to Quality Safety and Risk Management leadership
• Identifies areas for improvement and provides/presents detailed recommendation and proposed action plans to leadership.
• Maintains an accurate and up-to-date complaint and grievance tracking database. Compiles data analyzes trends and develops measurable comparisons and reports for hospital leadership.
• Follows up directly with patients or their representatives to ensure that issues have been resolved to their satisfaction.
• Performs periodic auditing of complaints and grievances to ensure hospital and CMS guidelines compliancy.
• Participates in meetings and on committees and represents the department and hospital in community outreach efforts
• Participates in multi-disciplinary quality and service improvement teams.
• Provides cross-coverage support for Patient Advocate services across other facilities within the Baltimore region as needed to ensure continuity of service and timely resolution of patient concerns.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimal Qualifications
Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business Management, Hospitality, Healthcare Administration or another related field required

Experience

• 2 years of progressively more responsible job-related experience ideally in the areas of service excellence and working knowledge of improvement processes required
• One year of relevant professional-level work experience may be substituted for one year of required education.

Knowledge Skills and Abilities

• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Proficient in computer skills preferred.
• Strong people skills to include marketing problem solving resourcefulness customer service and service recovery skills.