Patient Relations Specialist, Patient Safety

When you join the growing BILH team, you're not just taking a job, you’re making a difference in people’s lives.

BIDMC is seeking a dynamic Patient Relations Specialist to join the Healthcare Quality Department promoting Just Culture and High Reliability. Reporting to the Director of Patient Safety, the Patient Relations Specialist will be responsible for collaborating to ensure a compassionate, supportive, and safe environment for patients and families. Serving as a liaison between patients, families, and all hospital departments, this role addresses concerns while advocating for patient needs.

The Patient Relations Specialist will respond to patient inquiries with empathy and work to resolve issues promptly, encouraging positive patient experiences. Additionally, this role supports the hospital's Patient Safety and Risk Management program. The Patient Relations Specialist will also assist with external agency surveys, reporting, and process improvements. They will contribute to ongoing patient safety, risk management, and patient relations education and training efforts within and outside of the department.

This position is a full-time opportunity, Monday-Friday day shift, with potential for four ten-hour shifts with demonstrated work performance. This role will begin fully onsite and can offer a hybrid work schedule once fully trained.

The team shares a rotation of coverage, being on-site ready to meet DPH or TJC for unplanned surveyor visits. On their scheduled days on-site, the Specialist must be prepared to meet a regulatory surveyor in our main campus lobby by 7:30am.

Job Description:

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES (including but not limited to):

• Liaison between patients, families, staff, and providers to respond to inquiries, complaints, feedback, and compliments received including those from insurance companies and other agencies

• Screens, triages, and manages high volume of incoming telephone calls, emails, and letters in a fast-paced working environment

• Consults with and provides support to front line staff, providers, and leaders on how to respond to patient concerns

• Coordinates timely investigation, review, response, and resolution of patient complaints/grievances per enterprise and regulatory requirements

• Participates in internal and external reporting of patient complaint and survey data as required by regulators, payers, and accrediting organizations

• Interprets the Patient's Bill of Rights, hospital policies and non-medical procedures to patients/families

• Accurately tracks and performs quality assurance of feedback entered in the STARS Reporting System

• Proactively monitors trends in patient/family concerns/complaints to identify systematic, process, or barriers to the delivery of patient/family-centered care.

• Escalates complex cases to Manager and Director, keeping them informed of outstanding or unresolved incidents

• Participates in regular case review meetings, audits of complaint/grievance files, providing status reports to leadership

• Attends meetings on site and virtually as required

• Authors letters of resolution, expectations, and termination

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred

• Minimum of 3-5 years’ related work experience required in Patient Relations, Patient Safety, Quality Assurance, Risk Management, and/or Claims Investigation, including extensive experience collaborating with all healthcare role types and levels of seniority on mitigation of adverse events and process improvements

• Formal training in Just Culture and High Reliability Organization (HRO) methodology required

• Advanced skills with Microsoft applications, which may include Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access and other web-based applications. May produce complex documents, perform analysis and maintain databases

Competencies:

Decision Making: Ability to make decisions that are guided by precedents, policies and objectives. Regularly makes decisions and recommendations on issues affecting a department or functional area.

Problem Solving: Ability to address problems that are highly varied, complex and often non-recurring, requiring staff input, innovative, creative, and Lean diagnostic techniques to resolve issues.

Independence of Action: Ability to set goals and priorities for functional area. May make recommendations for department policies, practices and programs. Manager or Director provides broad guidance and overall direction.

Written Communications: Ability to communicate