Patient Relations Specialist

Major Responsibilities

Respond to and provide consultation, oversight, support and assistance with issues and concerns as they arise within the hospital regarding patients, patient family members, leadership and associates.

• Address the concerns of patients and/or family members and communicate with the hospital President regarding communications back to the patient/family member/visitor regarding their complaints and grievances.
• Available to provide immediate assistance, interventions or strategies related to difficult patient/family/visitor issues.
• Identify and refer to the Risk Management Department any incidents or other issues that are considered high risk.
• Respond to on‑call pager and take immediate action when paged to various units and/or requests within the hospital, and assist the unit manager in resolving patient issues.
• Acknowledge and support the information desks and volunteers when patient and/or family members have concerns.
• Assist department managers in recognizing trends and provide consultation for process improvements to eliminate areas of customer dissatisfaction.
• Collaborate and partner with administrative managers to ensure that complaints are appropriately addressed and resolved.
• Respond immediately in person or by phone when Code H is activated by a patient’s family member.

Advises and assists hospital leaders in the coordination and follow‑up of response and resolution of grievances.

• Advise and assist in creating innovative ways for hospital leaders as they seek resolution to issues.
• Patiently facilitate conversation with patient/families to uncover underlying situational dynamics.
• Maintain confidentiality regarding patient and employee information.
• Assist, as needed, in fulfilling requests for various patient/family situations within appropriate time frames.
• Interact sensitively with diverse populations and exhibit empathy toward individuals in all situations.
• Provide coaching and expertise for hospital leaders as they create their written and/or verbal response to patient concerns.
• Partner with the Risk Management Department in providing oversight and expertise regarding response letters created by hospital leadership.
• Create letters of response on behalf of the President when requested, by the President, to do so.

Responsible for the education and training of hospital leadership on the grievance/complaint process.

• Maintain an open door policy for leadership staff as well as front‑line associates who have questions regarding service recovery or are seeking advice and/or consultation regarding concerns, grievances, or service recovery implementation.
• Maintain a current listing of all database active users in conjunction with the department they are responsible for.
• Train and educate new hospital leadership in the use of Good Samaritan Hospital’s Service Recovery Policy and the use of the Patient Relation Management System.
• Be available to respond to questions from hospital leadership regarding the use of the Patient Relation Management System accounts.
• Report out daily at the safety huddle on the number of grievances, the assignee, and the main reason for each grievance.
• Generate the daily MIDAS report of open grievances and attend the safety huddle or provide information to a designee to report out.
• Provide good leadership and stewardship of resources related to service recovery and department budget.
• Work with SRCO and Risk Management when resolution to an issue involves charge reduction.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 2–3 years of patient relations or health‑care needs coordination knowledge.
• Knowledge of medical terminology.
• Proficiency with PC.
• Excellent written and verbal presentation skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and customer service skills.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Professional appearance and behavior a must.

• Excellent problem‑solving and conflict‑management skills.
• Three years of experience preferred in direct customer service in a health‑care environment.
• Knowledge of medical terminology.
• Proficiency with PC.
• Excellent written and…