Under the direction of the Dental Manager, the Front Office-Dental Services Patient Representative functions as a Wesley Health Center ambassador by welcoming and attending to the needs of all patients. The Front Office-Dental Services Patient Representative will create a positive front office experience by managing patient expectations, while demonstrating compassion and respect. This position will function as an integrated member of the health care team by assisting in the delivery of patient-focused care while performing varied moderately complex administrative and financial service support functions in a front office setting.

The OF-DPSR performs varied, moderately complex administrative and financial service support functions. When applicable, the DPSR/OA assists in the preparation of reimbursement bills, audits, reviews performance with the Dental Manager and/or Clinic Administrator and assists in planning contractual and budgetary compliance.

Principal Responsibilities:

1. Responsible for greeting and verifying the purpose for the patient’s visit in order to determine patient priority.
2. Verifies and records eligibility and registration, as appropriate for each individual patient into the Electronic Practice Management System.
3. Responsible for monitoring patient wait times and proactively communicating with patients regarding their status during their visit.
4. Responsible for scheduling appointments and making sure patients receive referral documentation as needed.
5. Responsible for telephone management and ensuring that all calls are answered courteously, promptly and any issues resolved as expected.
6. Ensure clients receive reminder calls promptly to preserve high levels of retention.
7. Responsible for communicating with the patient care team, which can include but is not limited to the medical assistants, providers and other team members to ensure that the patient experiences a seamless transition between hand-offs and to ensure all patient needs are met.
8. Maintains modern office practices, procedures and organization, as assigned.
9. Performs Financial Screenings for Dental Sliding Fee and possible enrollment into County or Government programs.
10. Responsible for reviewing and preparing necessary patient paperwork such as registration forms and consents in advance of the visit.
11. Responsible for collection of patient co-pays and payments, as well as daily reconciliation of their collections and enters all transactions on EPM. Gives all payments to Clinic Administrator at the end of each day.
12. Understands the Dental Broken Appointment Policy and can explain to the patient and enforces the policy with patients who NO SHOW or cancel without notice on a frequent basis.
13. Closes Front Office-related Open Encounters on a weekly basis and communicates it to the appropriate Biller
14. Ensures accurate recordkeeping and computer systems; business accounting and bookkeeping.
15. Responsible for the collection of patient co-pays and payments, as well as the daily reconciliation of their collections.
16. Responsible for monitoring waiting rooms and ensures that waiting areas are kept clean.
17. Provides reports and correspondence using basic business math skills, correct English usage, grammar, spelling and punctuation.
18. Continuously analyzes a variety of administrative and/or technical problems and makes effective recommendations.
19. Prepares accurate financial and statistical documents, reports, and correspondence.
20. Works independently and has the ability to organize, prioritize and coordinate work assignments.
21. Other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

1. Experience with working with NextGen and/or Dentrix.
2. High School diploma or GED certificate required.
3. One year of experience performing financial support duties.
4. Knowledge of Ryan White Funding for Oral Health Services
5. Current California Driver’s License and ability to drive to and from clinic sites
6. Prior Dental Billing experience.
7. Communicates effectively both orally and in writing.
8. Ability to work with persons from a wide diversity of social, ethnic and economic background.
9. Ability to work creatively with other health care professionals from a variety of disciplines to achieve maximal results for the clinic’s patient, from a system of integrated primary health care.
10. Ability to multitask and prioritize assignments and responsibilities to ensure compliance with established deadlines and protocols.

Preferred:

1. Experience working in a dental front office area or front desk.
2. Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish.
3. Two years’ experience working as a Dental Assistant.