Navajo Preference Employment Act :
In accordance with Navajo Nation and federal law, TCRHCC has implemented an Affirmative Action Plan pursuant to the Navajo Preference in Employment Act. Pursuant to this Plan and corresponding TCRHCC Policy, applicants who meet the necessary qualifications for this position and (1) are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, or San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe will be given preference in hiring and employment for this position, (2) are legally married to enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, or San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe and meet residency requirements will be given secondary preference, and (3) are enrolled members of other federally-recognized American Indian Tribes will be given tertiary preference.
Overview:

POSITION SUMMARY

The Eye Health Technician/Client Services Technician position involves a variety of technician and client services duties for the Eye Services (TCRHCC Service Unit which includes mainly Sacred Peaks and Tuba City occasionally). This position connects patients to resources and team members in order to promote the continuity of care, enhance care coordination and assists the providers to increase the overall efficiency of the department. Duties and responsibilities include educating patients of the care team and how they can improve their access to care confirmation of appointments and providing upcoming patient appointment reminders; answering patient questions to connect them to those who can help; and identifying and carrying out clinical support duties associated with patient care services and administrative provider support. This position requires tact and diplomacy to communicate with patients and families during times of emotional and physical stress and collaborates with various departments to expedite patient services and improve patient satisfaction. This position requires the ability to work under conditions of frequent interruptions and willingness to work a flexible schedule. The position also requires supporting eye examinations, help with the maintenance of patient records and equipment and eyeglass preparation. Require also to help prepare patients before and after an examination by gathering medical history information, explaining the exam process, and administering tests to determine the visual capabilities of a patient, ophthalmic drop instillation. In addition, certain clerical duties such as entering data into patient charts, recording providers orders, integrating radiology and test reports, keeping the department stock with supplies, daily checking of expiration dates, completing the daily superbill charges and reports, charting medical data, and scheduling patient appointments, performing patient reminder calls are included in the duties.

Qualifications:

NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

High School diploma or GED

Certification:

Must have and maintain current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification by the American Heart Association, if none , must obtain within three (3) months from date of hire

Experience :

Must have nine (9) continuous months of direct patient duties and experience within an eye or health care setting and the ability to be self-starting and efficient, adaptable, flexible, and a highly organized multitasker.

Other Skills and Abilities:

A record of satisfactory performance in all prior and current employment as evidenced by positive employment references from previous and current employers. All employment references must address and indicate success in each one of the following areas:

• Must have excellent customer service and telephone communication skills
• Proficient knowledge and ability to use computer software
• Positive communication and working relationships with others
• Possession of high ethical standards and no history of complaints
• Reliable and dependable; reports to work as scheduled without excessive absences
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information
• Ability to work independently with minimal to no supervision
• Positive working relationships with supervisors, colleagues & demonstrated the ability to work as a collaborator
• Possession of high ethical standards and no history of complaints
• Reliable, punctual, and dependable; reports to work as scheduled without excessive absences
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills including the ability to manage interactions with difficult people
• Ability to multi-task efficiently and effectively
• Must be able to act calmly and effectively in a busy or stressful situation
• Completion of and, above-satisfactory scores on all job interviews, demonstrating to the satisfaction of the interviewees and TCRHCC that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Successful completion of and positive results from all background and reference checks, including positive employment references from authorized representatives of past and current employers demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC a record of satisfactory performance and that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Successful completion of fingerprint clearance requirements, physical examinations, and other screenings indicating that the applicant is qualified to be employed by TCRHCC and demonstrating to the satisfaction of TCRHCC that the applicant can perform the essential functions of the job
• Submission of all required employment-related documents, applications, resumes, references, and other required information free of false, misleading, or incomplete information, as determined by TCRHCC.

MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EFFORT

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical:

Required frequent bending, reaching, repetitive hand movements, standing, walking, squatting, sitting, pushing, and pulling exerted continually throughout a regular work shift, carrying supplies and instruments up to 30 pounds unassisted. Must also be able to push and pull up to 50lbs daily. Manual dexterity is required in utilizing the instruments- ability with simple/firm grasping, fine manipulation and use of keyboard. Must be able to communicate clearly to patients in person and over the telephone; requires normal color vision and depth perception and visual acuity correctable to 20/20. Must also have ability of far vision, near vision, seeing fine details, hearing normal speech, and hearing overhead pages.

Mental:

The work involves taking the initiative to carry out recurring assignments independently without specific instructions but refers problems and unfamiliar situations to supervisor for decisions or help. Requires the ability to multitask, prioritize and work with patients in an efficient and diplomatic manner. Must be able to continually concentrate, handle high degree of flexibility, handle multiple priorities in stressful situation, work in areas that are close and crowded, occasionally cope with high levels of stress, make decisions under high pressure, cope with anger/fear/hostility of others in a calm way, manage altercations, work alone and adapt to shift work. Must accept a flexible schedule to meet unit needs.

Environmental:

May be exposed to communicable diseases and/or bodily fluids.

Responsibilities:

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

1. Participate in department huddles to determine which patients are coming into the clinic and identifies any gaps in care that need to be addressed during their visit, such as follow-up on open care referrals, test results, and recent visits to health care facilities outside of TCRHCC.
2. Serve as the clinics electronic health record (EHR) superuser and works with software systems for clinical, medical, pharmacy and other healthcare office systems and provides training and orientation for new team members.
3. Coordinate scheduling and referral management, health records maintenance, and retrieving patient data from automated systems and the EHR.
4. In partnership with other healthcare team members, assist in the empanelment process by assigning patients to a primary care provider (PCP) and ensures appointments are scheduled with the patients assigned PCP prior to other care team providers.
5. Oversee the coordination of documents outlining capabilities of the providers at the practice site, including procedures each provider performs, and track patient panels that clearly identified which providers have the capability of taking new patients.
6. Oversee clinic access to the Health Information Exchange (HIE) and retrieve pertinent health care information and results for providers prior to the patients appointment.
7. Stay informed of various clinical and hospital services, including appointment and referral systems and points of contact, to avoid unnecessary delay and confusion for patients.
8. Complete assigned special projects independently by analyzing, researching, troubleshooting, and resolving issues as they arise.
9. Use information technology to manage internal and external referrals ensuring there are no duplicates, release holds, schedule appointments, complete referrals timely, and support performance improvement activities and patient preferences regarding access to care.
10. Manage specific clinic scheduling guidelines, creates and maintains provider clinic schedules in the EHR, and maintains the appointment wait list.
11. Performs screening and recording into the EHR for patients of all ages that include visual acuity, confrontation fields, inter-pupillary distance measurements and neutralization of the patients glasses by manual and automated lensometry. Records health history and primary complaint into patient chart. Prepares patients for examinations. Assists eye care professional in examination as required. Assists with procedures by preparing the patient, wiping the area clean before and after as per hospital protocol, preparing the room and instrument tray for procedure including positioning patients head and holding eyelids apart.
12. Provide Navajo, Hopi, San Juan Southern Paiute and English interpretation for doctors and patients as needed to answer patient questions, prepare patients for exams and to assist doctor and patient with exam, patient history, primary complaint, diagnosis, treatment, patient education and follow up.
13. Performs other tests as requested by the eye care provider, such as but not limited to, visual fields (automated and manual), tonometry (non-contact), applanation, and tonopen, visual skills, depth perception, keratometry, autorefraction, OCT and color vision.
14. Performs anterior and retinal photography to assist the eye doctor in photo documentation of ocular disease. Reports findings in patient charts. Instills diagnostic or therapeutic pharmacological agents in patients eyes for purpose of ocular evaluation or therapy in accordance with eye care providers instructions.
15. Inserts and/or prepares applicable forms for eye doctor usage.
16. Provides and assists patients of all ages, one-to-one, group, and community patient education, in Navajo, Hopi, San Juan Southern Paiute and English, when necessary, relative to optical and ocular disease conditions; including, but not limited to, the proper use of ocular pharmacological agents, diagnoses, prognosis, follow-up, eyewear, adjustments of eyewear and instructions in insertion, removal and disinfection of contact lenses; will help do minor repairs of broken or damaged eyeglasses.
17. Provides basic department orientation to student interns, other optometry technicians.
18. Maintains a supply of patient education materials, order/replenish supplies and equipment, maintains unexpired supplies, and provides inventory.
19. Always maintain professional appearance and personal conduct.
20. Prepares correspondence and other paperwork related to the eye clinic necessities, such as travel, training, and requisitions. May also do scheduling for the eye clinic.
21. Responsible for electronic health records data entry & daily superbill completion and necessary daily/weekly reconciliation reports.
22. Ensure proper PPE is worn as per TCRHCC policy while on duty including but not limited to, face mask, gloves, gown, isolation gown, NIOSH-approved N95 filtering facepiece respirator or higher, if available), and eye or face shield.
23. Complete all donning and doffing tasks in a safe acceptable method and discard of used PPE accordingly. (see CDC website for most current updates)
24. Complete task training for all routine cleaning and decontamination processes for all surfaces contaminated by a communicable disease to ensure a high level of patient, visitor, employee, and external customer satisfaction.
25. Performs other related duties as necessary per supervisor such as scheduling or referrals.