Customer Service Consultant

Customer Service Consultant, Full-time, First Shift

UC Health is hiring a full-time Customer Service Consultant for the UC Medical Center.

The primary function of the Customer Service Consultant is to work in partnership with the healthcare team to enhance overall customer satisfaction for patients, visitors and staff through excellent service and quality care. This includes supporting a proactive vs. reactive approach to resolving problems and complaints with respect to care, treatment, patient rights and ability to access hospital services.

About University of Cincinnati Medical Center

As part of the Clifton Campus of UC Health, Greater Cincinnati’s academic health system, University of Cincinnati Medical Center has served Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky for nearly 200 years. Each year, hundreds of thousands of patients receive care from our world-renowned clinicians and care team. Our experts utilize the most advanced medical knowledge and technology available, providing a level of specialty and subspecialty medical care that is not available anywhere else in Greater Cincinnati.  

UC Medical Center is also home to medical breakthroughs- our physician experts conduct basic, translational and clinical research, leading to new therapies and care protocols, and connecting patients to the latest and most advanced treatments. UC Medical Center houses Greater Cincinnati’s only Level I adult trauma center, which includes the right mix of specialist and medical resources available at a moment’s notice for a wide variety of the most complex medical conditions and injuries.

Service Improvement Consultants:

• Proactive consultation to managers and staff with the goal of improving patient and family experiences.
• Competent to discuss the state of patient experience, complaint volumes with all levels of management.
• Serves as an expert in patient satisfaction; able offer recommendations to increase patient satisfaction.
• Educating staff on queues to help identify potential issues that may result in a complaint or grievance, customer service best practices and service recovery methods.
• Attend and participate in unit/department staff meetings as requested.
• Communicate information about the hospital's policies and procedures, informing patients, families, and visitors of hospital services available to them, i.e. parking, helping to arrange overnight stays, etc.
• Listen empathetically to patient concerns and communicate special needs of patient /family/visitor with staff and administration when appropriate.
• Advocate for quality care, treatment, respect and rights of all patients.
• Mediation in family meetings with treatment team and families.
• Maintain notary license if requested at the UC site you work at and provide notary services for patients, families and staff as requested.
• Make suggestions and recommendations to improve customer service processes throughout the system.
• Provide equipment for hearing impaired, i.e. TTY volume control phones, light signalers, call lights, tele sitters, etc.
• Provide service recovery as appropriate based on sub-par service received.

Complaint Investigation and Resolution:

• Work in partnership with the unit/department leaders and staff to address issues or complaints through early intervention and problem resolution.
• Assess situations of risk and refer issues of malpractice, personal injury, wrongful death, abuse, and missing personal property to Risk Management.
• Evaluate situations requiring substitute consent, when patients have no next of kin and are physically and/or mentally unable to give informed consent and refer staff to call Ethics consult team.
• Refer immediate patient and family concerns and/or compliments to appropriate department leaders in a timely manner.
• Proficiency uses emotional intelligence to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of patients, family and staff around you.
• Situational awareness to perceive, understand and effectively respond to one’s situation.
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills to aid in complaint resolution and education. 
• Make referrals to appropriate departments/services for patient assistance when appropriate.
• Follow-up with those patients who have identified a concern during their hospital visit.

Communication:

• Provide professional etiquette and empathetic service on both phone and in person meetings.
• Professional de-escalation techniques both on the phone and in person with upset patients and family.
• Active listening to build rapport and improve mutual understanding.
• Use of appropriate questioning based on each situation to gain understanding about the concerns.