Patient Experience Liaison- 40 hrs

Under general supervision, represents and interprets the mission, policies, procedures and services of Connecticut Children’s to patients and family members in support of Service Excellence and the overall Patient & Family Experience.  Functions as a resource and a liaison between the patient, the hospital, medical practices and the community.  The Patient Representative ensures patients’ rights are respected; provides a channel for problem mediation and resolution; promotes the highest level of quality of care and the Patient & Family experience. Acts as an expert in complaint management, service excellence training, role modeling, service recovery and education.

Facilitates Program Awareness:

Collaborates with Connecticut Children’s team members and providers to make patients/families aware of patient complaint management process.  

Complaint Investigations & Resolution:

Receives and triages patient/family complaints/grievances in order for appropriate response to occur in keeping with regulatory and Connecticut Children’s policies and guidelines.  Manages complaints/grievances using our electronic occurrence/feedback management system.  Investigates patient/family complaints and provides appropriate/timely response.  Serves as an impartial liaison and facilitator between hospital departments/staff in order to ensure timely resolution of complaints.  Maintains regular communication with patients/families and Connecticut Children’s team members during the investigation and based on investigation results, formulates written response, when appropriate.

Hospital Liaison:

Serves as an impartial liaison and communicator for service recovery discussions involving patient/family members and Connecticut Children’s team members, providers and leadership.
Follows up with appropriate unit and/or department leaders to ensure specifics of complaint are fully addressed.

Discovery & Recovery:

Proactively rounds on inpatient units, serving as a resource to patients, families and team members – thereby facilitating the discovery of issues relating to a patient’s experience at Connecticut Children’s.  Follows-up with patients, families and/or staff to ensure agreed to resolutions have occurred.  Provides real-time service recovery to patients/families and team members to promote a positive patient & family experience, while supporting team members.

Data Management & Recovery:

Tracks complaints and their resolutions in the complaint-tracking database.  Generates reports and identifies trends using information available from the complaint-tracking database.

Successful completion of Crucial Conversations course.

Demonstrates knowledge of the age-related differences and needs of patients in appropriate, specific populations from neonate through adolescence and applies them to practice.  Demonstrates cultural sensitivity in all interactions with patients/families.

Demonstrates support for the mission, values and goals of the organization through behaviors that are consistent with Connecticut Children’s standards.

Performs other related responsibilities as assigned.
                                                                                                                  

Education and/or Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, human services and/or public relations preferred; or equivalent directly related work experiences.  Minimum 2-4 years of directly related experience in a healthcare setting.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish, preferred.                                                                                                                  

Position Specific Job Education and/or Experience

• Experience managing patient complaints/grievances preferred.

License and/or Certification Required:

None.                                                                                                      

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:

Knowledge of:

• Understanding of operational policies/procedures and how to research and identify policies/procedures as appropriate.  State/federal regulations, DPH, JC, HIPAA regulations and other regulatory agency standards and requirements pertaining to patient rights and the management of patient complaints and grievances.  
• Knowledge of Press Ganey, specifically related to patient satisfaction surveying data and trends.

Skills:

• Intermediate to advanced end-user skills in Microsoft Windows operating system environment, Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel), and basic understanding of database mana