Patient Advocate - Service Excellence - Full Time 8 Hours Days (Non-Union, Exempt)

JOB ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Act as a liaison between the family and care team to enhance communication, bridging gaps in understanding. Drawing on ability to empathize and look at situations from a variety of perspectives, creatively and effectively facilitates patient care services and amenities while always anticipating patient and family needs.
• Acts as an advocate for the patient and communicates any gaps to the care team and assists with the resolution.
• Identifies Limited English Proficient (LEP) hospital patients in the hospital each day and conduct roundings.
• Identifies any patient that may require intervention in the patient care area.
• Facilitates closing gaps in care by partnering with clinical care team to ensure patients receive all information needed, concerns are being addressed, and assist with the resolution as needed.
• Supports clients with serious chronic or life-threatening illnesses and their families to make informed medical decisions, form effective partnerships with providers and assist patients/families in developing self-advocacy skills. Promotes an active patient voice. Facilitate techniques for patient involvement in informed decision making.
• Document and process patient complaints from initial intake whether received via in writing, in person, via phone or through surveys and comment cards. Provide continuous education to staff on the patient complaint process. Make process improvement recommendation to leadership as needed.
• Inputs information in the rounding log, looks for themes and global issues that can be escalated for resolution.
• Orient patients to the room and hospital, including orient the use of the interpretation processes and devices. Assists the patient with basic needs including menu selection, personal needs.
• Tracks and reports to the department manager/ director any issues, recognitions, and/or findings.
• Communicates with staff needs of the patient/ family to nursing/ staff.
• Assists with translation for on-site Educational Programs for the for LEP population.
• Interprets /Translates low level communication.
• Facilitates the incident reporting process to ensure events are appropriately addressed and follow-up is documented.
• Alerts clinical risk management staff when egregious events are noted in the event management system or reported by the department. Assists clinical risk management staff with activities related to the identification, retrieval, and processing of events.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Education: 
High School or equivalent

Minimum Experience: 
3-5 years Experience in related field, preferably in an acute care setting

Minimum Skills: 
Able to communicate in writing in both languages.
Demonstrated interpersonal, communication and customer service skills.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with physicians, managers, staff, and volunteers.

Preferred Experience: 
 Experience in the medical field/ medical terminology

Preferred Skills: 
Bilingual – Strong command of English and Chinese/Spanish language (multiple dialects preferred).

Pay Transparency

The hourly rate range for this position is $62,733 - $97,781 When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California Arcadia Hospital considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, State, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

JOB SUMMARY

The Patient Advocate will work as an extension of the clinical care team by identifying and resolving communication and cultural barrier using advocacy skills. This position will also be expected to manage patient expectations, including educating, and influencing expected service behaviors with staff and providers. Additionally, this position will be responsible to act as an advocate striving to empower Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients and families to take an active role in improving their patient experience while providing creative solutions to unique challenges in collaboration with leadership, the Patient Relations Representative will develop education materials, assist with policies that are patient and family centered, and make recommendation to drive service excellence.

                                                  

USC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC observes affirmative action obligations consistent with state and federal law. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal records in a manner consistent with applicable laws and regulations, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for employers and the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and with due consideration for patient and student safety. Please refer to the Background Screening Policy Appendix D for specific employment screen implications for the position for which you are applying. 

We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at (213) 821-8100, or by email at uschr@usc.edu. Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.

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