Job Description

Contact Center Patient Advocate

Schedule: Monday - Friday Work Hours may fluctuate: 6am - 3pm, 7am - 4pm, or 8am- 5pm

The Contact Center Patient Advocate serves as the primary liaison between patients and the organization, ensuring a positive, compassionate, and seamless experience across all touchpoints. This role focuses on converting inbound inquiries and appointment requests into scheduled visits, resolving patient concerns, supporting navigation of services, ensuring patient satisfaction, and advocating for patient needs while upholding organizational standards for service quality, compliance, and operational efficiency.

Summary of Essential Job Functions

The key responsibilities of the Contact Center Patient Advocate include but not limited to:

Duties and Responsibilities

Access Support & Appointment Conversion

• Serve as the first point of contact for patients via phone, chat, or online requests.
• Collect and verify patient demographic information accurately.
• Convert inbound inquiries into scheduled appointments whenever clinically and operationally appropriate.
• Schedule appointments accurately based on provider availability, visit type, and clinical guidelines.
• Removing barriers to entry, offering alternative appointment options (different providers, locations, telemedicine visits) to prevent lost opportunities
• Use needs?based questioning to understand patient needs and care preferences.
• Match patients need to the correct provider, specialty, visit type, and location.
• Present and recommend available appointment options confidently to drive conversion.
• Reduce "call?only" or "information?only" interactions by proactively offering to schedule.

Barrier Management & Salvage

• Identify and overcome common access barriers, including:
• Limited provider availability
• Location or time constraints
• Insurance or referral confusion
• Patient hesitation or uncertainty
• Offer alternatives such as:
• Different providers or locations
• Sooner or later appointment times
• Telemedicine care options
• Escalate unresolved access issues per established workflows.

Patient Advocacy & Support

• Serve as the main point of contact for patients needing assistance.
• Escalation handling and/or resolution of complex service issues.
• Support BHG patients through the appointment show up process.
• Listen empathetically to patient concerns, document issues clearly, and coordinate appropriate follow-up actions.
• Assist patients in understanding processes such as scheduling, insurance questions, billing inquiries, or care navigation.
• Ensure patients feel heard, valued, and supported at every interaction.

Issue Resolution & Escalation Management

• Investigate service-related complaints by gathering information from patients, agents, clinical teams, and administrative departments.
• Resolve issues within defined SLAs while maintaining an elevated level of professionalism and empathy.
• Identify patterns in complaints and collaborate with leadership to address systemic improvements.

Contact Center Collaboration

• Partner closely with call center peers, supervisors, and QA teams to provide feedback on service trends.
• Stay current on service line offerings, provider changes, and scheduling rules.
• Participate in training, system updates, and process improvement efforts.

Documentation & Compliance

• Document all cases, actions taken, and resolutions accurately in Salesforce/SAMMS.
• Follow HIPAA, privacy, and regulatory guidelines always.
• Maintain confidentiality regarding phone calls, patient texts and/or emails with high discretion.
• Follow call scripts, verification standards, and escalation protocols.

Patient Experience Improvement

• Engage in patient outreach initiatives (follow-up calls, surveys, service recovery efforts).
• Act as a voice of the patient, helping shape more patient-centered policies and processes.

Regulatory

• Holds a basic understanding of alcohol/drug abuse and addiction
• Complies with all federal, state and local regulatory agency requirements
• Complies with all accrediting agencies

Marketing and Outreach

• Participate in community and public relations activities as assigned.

Professional Development

• Demonstrates the belief that addiction is a brain disease, not a moral failing
• Demonstrates hope, respect and caring in all interactions with patients and fellow Team Members
• Establishes and maintains positive relationships in the workplace
• Can work independently and under pressure while handling multiple tasks simultaneously
• Makes decisions and uses good judgment with confidential and sensitive issues
• Deals appropriately with others in stressful or other undesirable situations and seeks direction from supervisors when necessary

Training

• Participate in and provide in-service trainings as required by federal, state, local, and accrediting agencies
• Attend conferences, meetings and training programs as directed

Key Skills & Competencies

• Strong conversational and consultative communication skills
• Understanding of HIPAA and patient rights
• Ability to guide patients toward scheduling without pressure.
• Comfort balancing empathy with performance expectations.
• High attention to detail and system accuracy
• Ability to work effectively in a high?volume inbound environment.
• Healthcare scheduling or patient access experience
• Exceptional communication, active listening, and de?escalation skills
• High emotional intelligence and compassion
• Strong problem-solving and analytical ability
• Professional resilience and calm under pressure
• Ability to navigate multiple systems and maintain accurate documentation.
• Knowledge of healthcare workflows (BHG policies, scheduling, billing, insurance, etc.)

Minimum Requirements

• The Contact Center Patient Advocate must comply with federal and state regulations regarding certification, licensure, and degree.

Qualifications

• Education: High school diploma required; associate or bachelor's degree in healthcare, social work, psychology, or related field preferred.
• Experience:
• 2+ years in a call center, patient access, customer service, or healthcare support role
• Experience handling escalations or specialized support preferred.
• Technical Skills:
• Proficiency with CRM, EHR, call center software, and multi?channel communication tools

Performance Metrics (Example KPIs)

• Appointment conversion rate
• Schedule utilization
• Call handling quality and accuracy.
• Patient satisfaction score (CSAT, NPS)
• Resolution efficiency (FCR, time to resolution)
• Documentation quality
• Compliance adherence

In addition to meeting the qualifications, the ideal candidate will embody the following characteristics and possess the knowledge, skills and abilities listed below:

• High integrity
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Sound judgment
• Efficient
• Self-starter
• Ability to work independently and under pressure while handling multiple tasks simultaneously
• Ability to make decisions and use proper judgment with confidential and sensitive issues
• Must be able to react quickly and make effective decisions
• Demonstrate basic computer/word processing skills
• Demonstrate basic knowledge and skill in the use of typical office equipment such as calculator, fax machine, copier, computer, telephone, and computer programs

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

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