Medical Assistant 3

Under supervision of the Assistant Nurse Manager, guided by policies and procedures of Ambulatory Services, the Primary Care Medical Assistant will participate on a clinical team which handles daily rooming and health record maintenance of primary care patients within the Women’s Health Primary Care (WHPC) practice. The role of the MA is to assist the provider care team by coordinating care for patients on and off the daily schedule. The MA will act as a conduit for the transmission of information between providers and patients and coordinate services for patients needing preventive care maintenance, especially those with serious, complex or chronic health problems. The MA will provide advocacy, information, and referral services to patients and families to address their medical and psychosocial needs.

Responsibilities

DUTIES & ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Percentage of

                                                                                                                                                                                                Time Spent

Clinical                                                                                                                                  60%

1. Performs routine clinical functions, including but not limited to vital signs, height, weight, pain screening, peak flows, glucometer testing, and documentation of chief complaints.
2. Documents use of interpreter as appropriate. Works with interpreting services to facilitate interpreter participation for medical appointments in person, by video or by phone.
3. Assists with medication reconciliation by helping patients to update their medication lists.
4. Assists patients in wheelchairs as needed.
5. Obtains specimens and performs Point of Care Testing as directed including QA/QC procedures, conforming to all policies and procedures related to specimen handling and processing.
6. Pends lab, screening, and refill orders for providers as directed by the provider or indicated in the patient Health Maintenance record.
7. Reviews provider schedules and individual patient charts and assists the care team in coordinating care for visits and for future healthcare needs. 
8. Provides an effective communication link between patients and medical staff, including relaying messages from providers and gathering information from patients for providers.
9. Supports patients and providers in the medication refill process.
10. Uses electronic health record and other information to inform care team members of preventative care required or overdue for each patient seen each day.
11. Ensures that identified patients are tracked and data entered into systems for follow up and reporting.
12. Regularly reviews health record information for scheduled patients and arranges for care needed to proactively coordinate health care needs. 
13. Coordinates with medical staff to ensure that case management services are offered and provided to patients with complex medical problems.
14. Participates with medical team to develop, implement, and carry out programs in chronic disease management for patients with such problems as diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and depression
15. Assists in coordination of care with pharmacies, insurance companies, and other providers in the community. Ensures that information goes when and where it is needed.
16. Ensures that disease and other health record data entry is up to date and uses reports to organize a plan of care for complex patients.
17. Under protocol prepares orders within Epic/APeX for provider approval such as mammograms, colonoscopies, HgA1C, and vaccines.
18. Obtains authorizations from insurers for medications.
19. Performs clinical activities in an accurate and timely manner.
20. Assists providers in writing and sending out patient communications.
21. Complies with all Ambulatory Services and Medical Center policies and   procedures for infection control, safety, administrative and clinical practice.  Complies with activities mandated by Joint Commission/Title 22.
22. Completes all annual competency testing and medical center training.

Communication                                                                                                                  10%

1. Demonstrates courtesy, common sense, and follow through in all telephone communications, maintaining the Medical Center Telephone Standards.

2. Ensures a professional and helpful working environment by upholding the House Standards as adopted by the Medical Center.
3. Uses AIDET Principles of Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explain and Thank you.
4. Exhibits and embraces the concepts of UCSF PRIDE Principles including Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Diversity and Excellence.
5. Notifies providers of patient service issues.
6. Notifies patients of provider service issues following Ambulatory Wait Time Communication Protocols.
7. Shares pertinent information and observations with other health team members.
8. Identifies and communicates problems to the nursing staff or appropriate supervisor.
9. Offers suggestions for change or improvement in clinic/practice operations.
10. Assists patients with issues and complaints utilizing conflict management skills.

11.  S/he is a strong team player, has a dedicated work ethic, and is willing to learn and adapt to new tasks when asked. S/he is comfortable building rapport with patients quickly and is able to work effectively with and without supervision and remain calm and friendly in all interactions with patients.

12. S/he leads by example in the areas of professional appearance, demeanor and body language, making eye contact with patients, and smiling.

13.  S/he is facile at using the resources available for and within primary care practices. 

14. Contacts overdue patients by phone, letter, or electronic communication as directed or needed.

Operations Maintenance                                                                                                 10%

1. Maintains clean, well-stocked exam rooms, hub rooms and lab. Responsible for ordering and maintaining supplies, maintenance of lab equipment.

2. Reviews and prints results for providers as requested.

3. Schedules complex procedures and coordinates services for patients.

4. Adheres to infection control procedures as outlined in the Infection Control Manual.

5. Participates in various QI and Customer Service initiatives, outcome data collection from procedures, wait time studies, etc.

6. Acts as a back-up to other Medical Assistants or to the primary care team members as needed. 

Clerical Responsibilities                                                                                                  20%

1. Schedules established patient appointments using APeX Cadence and updates patient registration information.
2. Coordinates urgent appointments such as MRI.
3. Upholds UCSF policy regarding the maintenance and confidentiality of medical records.
4. Prepares paperwork and files for patient visits. 
5. Utilizes legacy systems/charts and APeX to retrieve pertinent patient data. 
6. Follows practice procedure for follow-up or missed appointments.
7. Handles APeX Clinical and MyChart InBasket messages.
8. Performs chart abstraction to update or correct medical information in the electronic medical record.
9. Manipulates and utilizes data in current patient population management report system. 
10. Routes progress notes to patient’s primary care provider as needed.
11. Obtains insurance authorizations for procedures, visits, and medications as needed.                                                                                               

OTHER FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

REQUIRED QUALIFICATION

• Certification from an approved Medical Assistant program or equivalent combination of training and experience. 
• One year experience as a Medical Assistant in a medical practice. 
• Knowledge and abilities essential to the successful performance of the duties assigned to the position. 
• Current American Heart Association CPR Certification.
• Demonstrated computer familiarity, keyboard skills, computer literate in programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel. 
• Willingness to learn new computer programs as needed to sustain practice operations. 
• Ability to work effectively with people from diverse cultures and diverse socioeconomic situations.
• Familiarity with insurance verification and authorizations
• Ability to sit at a computer terminal for extended periods of time, with no restrictions for keyboarding.
• Strong computer skills, including basic keyboarding skills, and experience and ability to work effectively in Word and Excel. 
• Ability to prioritize and work efficiently with multiple forms of patient & provider communication including email, fax and phone system.
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent verbal skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Strong writing skills to include the ability to compose basic office communications.
• Ability to deal sensitively and effectively with patients.

• Ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with team physicians and referring physicians

   

PREFERRED

• Familiarity with Epic (APeX) electronic health record system
• Familiarity with immunizations including cycles and standard recommendations
• Experience working with the public, preferably in a medical/hospital/clinic environment
• Demonstrated fluency in Spanish or Chinese language: speaking, reading and writing
• Internal Medicine, Geriatric, or Family Medicine experience
• Familiarity and/or prior experience using a disease registry to track a population of patients
• Experience collecting, and entering data, identifying errors and missing information, and performing basic analysis

• Certification in phlebotomy (CPT)

   

REQUIRED LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS

• Current American Heart Association CPR certification