Patient Advocate- Duke Regional Inpatient and Outpatient

At Duke Health, we're driven by a commitment to compassionate care that changes the lives of patients, their loved ones, and the greater community. No matter where your talents lie, join us and discover how we can advance health together.

About Duke Regional Hospital

Pursue your passion for caring with Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. With 388 beds it is the second largest of Duke Health's four hospitals and offers a comprehensive range ofmedical, surgical, and diagnostic services, including orthopedics, weight-loss surgery, women's services, and heart and vascular services.

Job Summary

Investigate, resolve, document and report organization-specific patient and visitor compliments and concerns to leadership and staff. Develop, implement and participate in customer service and patient relations initiatives related to the Duke University Hospital. Provide monthly accountability and variance analysis of Balanced Scorecard Customer Service Outcomes to assigned Clinical Service Unit(s).

Locations:

Duke Regional Hospital Emergency Department, Hospital-based clinics, Davis Ambulatory Surgery Center, and Arringdon facility.

Hours:

Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM

Work Performed

Serve as a primary resource for addressing and resolving patient concerns across inpatient and outpatient settings. Responsibilities include responding to patient complaints in real time, partnering with unit and departmental leadership to facilitate effective service recovery, and ensuring a positive patient experience. Manage and document patient complaints and grievances within RL6 in accordance with CMS regulatory requirements and established timelines. Assist patients and families with notarization of Healthcare Power of Attorney (HCPOA) and Durable/Financial Power of Attorney documents, follow established escalation protocols when appropriate, and collaborate with Patient Relations and Patient Visitor Relations (PVR) teams across DUHS to ensure concerns are routed, addressed, and resolved efficiently.

Facilitate resolution of complaints/grievances/requests for Patients & Visitors for assigned Clinical Service Unit. Respond to suggestions and compliments submitted by patients and provide positive reinforcement to involved staff. Document patient/visitor concerns to include patient demographic data, synopsis of incident, actions taken to resolve, and outcome; input into Feedback Monitor database. Compose letters or e-mails to patients, visitors, or PDC/Health System physicians, leadership, ensuring grammatical accuracy and according to the terms of the Duke grievance policy. Coordinate interventions/services with PDC Customer Service and Patient Relations, Patient and Visitor Relations and Risk Management. Collaborate with unit leadership to meet customer service and clinical quality outcomes for the customer service segment of the balanced scorecard on assigned CSU. Identify systems related problems, via patient/visitor data, and work collaboratively with physicians, administrators and staff to resolve. Conduct monthly accountability and variance analysis of balanced scorecard customer service outcomes. Analyze complaint/grievance data and collaborate with CSU Leadership and staff on a monthly basis. Assist in the preparation of annual and quarterly executive reportsfor senior leadership; present data to leadership teams. Develop a consultant relationship with assigned clinics/units to build and sustain a patient/customer-focused culture. Lead Customer Service Training for staff on assigned CSU. Participate on committees, work groups, and/or process improvement teams that improve patient/customer satisfaction. Notarize Advance Directives for DUHS/PDC patients by request; serve as a resource to answer questions regarding Advance Directives. Influence change across the Clinical Service Unit Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Possess strong customer service skills/interpersonal interactions; ability to handle difficult and angry people constructively; savvy enough to interact with physicians/senior leadership Excellent analytical skills, including analysis, planning, organizing, and troubleshooting Proficient in Windows-based operating software/systems Good oral and written communication skills; presentations skills Ability to work with minimal supervision Adaptability with high tolerance for ambiguous work situations Knowledge of health care, HMO/health insurance and/or Duke Medical Center experience Must work in conjunction with staff in a supportive way to troubleshoot and resolve issues Must be visible to staff, offering support and modeling service behaviors and concern resolution processes Must be able to address difficult, awkward situations with tact and diplomacy Must be a team player and have proven success applying a team approach to obtain resolution to an issue or successfully accomplish a goal. Must be informed regulatory healthcare representatives for the patient and organization; must be able to communicate patient and visitor rights and responsibilities to patients, family members, and staff

Preferred skills: Strong writing skills, particularly for grievance responses; excellent communication and service recovery skills.

Level Characteristics

N/A

Minimum Qualifications

Education

Work requires Bachelor's degreein Behavioral Science or related field.

Experience

Three years of customer service experience, preferably in a health care setting.

Degrees, Licensures, Certifications

Notary Public Preferred, Expected to recieve within first 90 days of employment

Duke is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy related conditions), sexual orientation or military status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas-an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions:

Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.