Cardiology Care Navigator

Patient Navigation

· Coordinate the patient journey from referral through completion of diagnostic testing and follow-up care.

· Ensure patients are scheduled for recommended imaging and follow-up appointments before leaving the clinic whenever possible.

· Serve as the primary point of contact for non-clinical patient coordination.

· Monitor patients requiring cardiac CT, cardiac MRI, stress echocardiograms, PET, SPECT, and other cardiovascular diagnostic procedures.

· Track patients throughout the imaging process to ensure completion.

Imaging Coordination

· Review imaging work queues daily.

· Coordinate imaging appointments with Radiology and Cardiology.

· Ensure imaging orders contain all required documentation.

· Coordinate with authorization staff to ensure insurance approvals are completed.

· Escalate scheduling or authorization delays.

· Coordinate rescheduling of cancelled or missed imaging appointments.

· Maintain tracking lists for outstanding imaging studies.

· Maintain and actively manage imaging waitlists to maximize imaging capacity.

· Review daily provider schedules to identify patients needing imaging or follow-up before leaving clinic.

· Coordinate same-day scheduling opportunities to fill cancellations.

· Monitor imaging scheduling turnaround times.

Follow-up Coordination

· Schedule provider-recommended follow-up appointments.

· Monitor follow-up work queues to ensure patients are not lost to follow-up.

· Contact patients who miss appointments, cancel appointments, have incomplete imaging, require repeat testing, or need ED/hospital follow-up.

· Track outstanding imaging orders and coordinate completion.

· Monitor referral leakage and coordinate appropriate follow-up.

· Coordinate surveillance and repeat imaging based on provider recommendations.

Patient Communication

· Contact patients regarding appointments, preparation requirements, scheduling, and follow-up.

· Reinforce procedure instructions provided by nursing staff.

· Answer non-clinical questions and route clinical concerns appropriately.

· Encourage adherence to care plans and scheduled testing.

Coordination with Clinical Staff

· Collaborate with physicians and nursing staff to ensure patients receive pre-procedure instructions, medication instructions, laboratory requirements, and preparation materials.

· Notify nursing staff of patients requiring clinical outreach or education.

Care Gap Management

· Manage referral, imaging, recall, ED follow-up, hospital discharge, missed appointment, incidental finding, surveillance imaging, and waitlist work queues.

· Ensure timely patient outreach and appointment completion.

Program Growth and Service Line Development

· Increase completion rates for advanced cardiac imaging.

· Reduce delays from provider order to completed imaging.

· Reduce no-show and cancellation rates.

· Maximize imaging utilization through proactive scheduling.

· Monitor referral conversion and imaging volumes.

· Support outreach to referring providers and new cardiovascular service initiatives.

· Support population health and surveillance imaging programs.

Reporting and Performance Monitoring

· Maintain dashboards and tracking tools for outstanding imaging orders, referrals, follow-up appointments, and work queues.

· Provide weekly and monthly reports to clinic leadership and providers on outstanding tasks, turnaround times, completion rates, no-shows, referral conversion, waitlist utilization, and operational barriers.

· Present findings during operational, provider, and quality meetings.

· Recommend workflow improvements based on trends and performance data.

Documentation

· Document all patient outreach and coordination activities in the electronic medical record.

· Maintain tracking spreadsheets, dashboards, and operational reports.

Quality Improvement

· Participate in quality improvement initiatives, workflow redesign, and departmental meetings.

Minimum Qualifications

· Associate's degree preferred.

· Three years of healthcare experience preferred.

· Experience in cardiology, ambulatory operations, patient access, scheduling, referral coordination, or care coordination preferred.

· Experience with Cerner or comparable electronic medical record preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

· Excellent organizational and communication skills.

· Strong customer service and interpersonal skills.

· Knowledge of medical terminology, referral management, and insurance authorization processes.

· Ability to manage multiple priorities independently.

· Proficiency with Microsoft Office and EMR systems.

Additional Responsibilities

· Participate in departmental meetings and special projects.

· Cross-train to support ambulatory cardiology operations as needed.

· Perform other duties as assigned.