Patient Relations Specialist

In 2020, united in a fierce commitment to deliver the highest quality care and exceptional patient experience, Virginia Mason and CHI Franciscan Health came together as natural partners to build a new health system centered around the patient: Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Our combined system builds upon the scale and expertise of our nearly 300 sites of care, including 11 hospitals and nearly 5,000 physicians and providers. Together, we are empowered to make an even greater impact on the health and well-being of our communities.            

CHI Franciscan and Virginia Mason are now united to build the future of patient-centered care across the Pacific Northwest. That means a seamlessly connected system offering quality care close to home. From basic health needs to the most complex, highly specialized care, our patients can count on us to meet their needs with convenient access to the region’s most prestigious experts and innovative treatments and technologies.  

Franciscan Medical Group, as part of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, is currently looking for a full-time Patient Relations Specialist for the Franciscan Administration team in Tacoma. Candidates experienced in the healthcare industry with high performance ability to listen to the 'Voice of our Patients' and facilitate service recovery through written and verbal communication, will find this position to be a progressive step forward in their career. The patient relations specialist brings important value to Franciscan Medical Group, coordinating information from clinic leadership to document resolution of concerns back to the patient/family. You will influence our Patient Experience everyday. Free parking and no weekends or organizationally recognized holidays required. 

Job Summary:

This job is responsible for coordinating and tracking the timely resolution of customer complaints/grievances for the assigned Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (VMFH) entity in accordance with established procedures and patient experience standards.  Incumbents serve as a liaison between patients, families and/or other complaining parties and the appropriate department management to facilitate resolution of grievances, complaints and/or other issues concerning the quality of care and services.  Incumbents receive, log, document and track phone-based grievances/complaints for assigned VMFH entity and may direct information to site-based staff for further action. As part of a communications team, incumbents communicate with patients and families following adverse medical events and provide coaching to others on related communications techniques.  An incumbent utilizes advanced oral and written communication skills, within scope of position, to support patients and families experiencing the related effects of adverse medical events, including loss and grief.

An incumbent serves as a resource to all levels of services and administration in soliciting/researching/responding to customer concerns and complaints. Work includes: 1) rounding on the in-patient population at assigned campus to promote excellent customer service practices as a deterrent to future complaints/grievances; 2) using a desktop database to document/track all customer complaints for assigned facility and to produce reports/metrics as required; 3) meeting with patients/family members to gather/validate complaint data and coordinating with VMFH management staff to identify and implement an appropriate resolution/service recovery within the targeted timeline; and 4) monitoring the status of complaints to facilitate continuous progress towards ultimate resolution.

Work requires knowledge of effective methods for addressing/triaging the concerns of dissatisfied patients/families/physicians before they escalate into formal grievances/complaints.  Also requires the ability to listen effectively, exercise significant tact and diplomacy in eliciting factual data from sometimes upset/irate individuals and take proper action to assure that customer complaints are responded to and documented in a timely and professional manner consistent with the VMFH service excellence and recovery strategies.  

Essential Job Duties:

Rounds on assigned facilities/departments to assure patients/families’ questions and concerns are answered; resolves, or recommends resolution of, issues within defined scope of position and in accordance with established procedures to mitigate/avoid escalation to formal complaints and promote excellent patient satisfaction. 

• Brings concerns to unit managers or appropriate medical directors, serving as a resource for interventions related to dissatisfied patients/families/physicians and supports an environment of proactive service recovery. 
• Coordinates the review of patient concerns and provides general consultation/support to coordinate optimal outcomes for individual patient complaints.
• Considers the emotional and informational needs of patients and families following adverse medical events and facilitates access to support systems.
• Serves as a communications team member following adverse medical events providing communication and coaching as appropriate.

Maintains contact with complainant throughout the process to facilitate timely and effective grievance resolution and service recovery. 

• Meets with patients/family members to gather/validate complaint data and de-escalate concerns/issues; coordinates with VMFH management staff to identify and implement an appropriate resolution/service recovery within the targeted timeline.
• Coordinates and/or prepares written responses to complaining parties to communicate/implement approved resolutions.

Follows up with managers and medical directors to monitor the current status of complaints to facilitate timely progress towards grievance resolution and to assure timely completion of all required documentation.

• Identifies and researches unresolved grievances and escalates to management/appropriate party in accordance with established procedures.   

Documents and tracks complaints and resolutions in appropriate database; creates standard and ad hoc reports to consolidate data on complaints and resolutions for management review and action. 

• Works to improve documentation of both complaints and resolutions to provide enhanced tracking and trending.  
• Tracks complaints based on indicators/demographic data (e.g., provider, care line, department, personnel, type of complaint, etc.) in order to identify significant trends.
• Assigns proper codes to complaints to facilitate trending and identification of performance improvement opportunities. 

May serve as a centralized point-of-contact for receiving incoming phone calls concerning patient/family/ physician complaints reported for all VMFH entities/locations.

• Receives, logs, documents and tracks phone-based grievances/complaints for assigned VMFH entity and may direct information to site-based staff for further action.

Education/Work Experience:

• Four years of recent customer service work experience in a clinical environment or business setting that demonstrates attainment of the requisite job knowledge/abilities.  
• Associate’s degree in related field preferred.