Patient Financial Counselor

Job DetailsJob Location: Osborne, KS 67473Education Level: Not SpecifiedTravel Percentage: NoneSummary The Financial Counselor is responsible for the proactive management of the hospital’s self-pay accounts receivable. This role serves as the primary point of contact for patients regarding their financial obligations, providing education on payment options, processing financial assistance applications, and managing the transition of delinquent accounts to external collections. The goal of this position is to maximize collections while maintaining a high standard of patient advocacy and customer service.   Key Responsibilities 1. Revenue Cycle & Account Management Monitor and work daily Rev Cycle work queues, including Past Due Self Pay, In Collections Preview, and Discharged/Not Ready to Bill. Ensure insurance is marked complete to trigger proper statement drops and minimize billing delays. Analyze patient accounts to identify billing errors, verify insurance eligibility at the time of service, and resolve charge discrepancies. 2. Patient Collections & Financial Counseling Conduct daily outreach to patients in “No Pay” statuses to secure payments or establish formal payment plans. Evaluate patient accounts for financial assistance eligibility; process approvals, write-offs, and monitor expiration dates for coverage. Manage high-risk accounts by providing a 10–15 day final notice period before recommending accounts for external collection agencies. Handle patient inquiries regarding billing, payments, and payroll deductions with a focus on accuracy and resolution. 3. Documentation & Reporting Maintain the Medicare Bad Debt List, ensuring all encounter data, insurance transactions, and Medicaid cross-overs are recorded accurately for compliance. Facilitate the monthly "Small Balance" review, coordinating with leadership for administrative adjustments on aged accounts under $10. Process end-of-year uncollectible adjustments based on agency reports. 4. Administrative & Technical Support Generate and mail daily patient statements, ensuring appropriate "Payment Option" inserts are included for high-balance accounts. Utilize Cerner (Discern Analytics 2) to produce itemized statements and fulfill patient record requests. Coordinate with external collection agencies to report direct payments and perform bad debt reversals within the system. Assist with front-desk registration and other business office duties as needed. 5. Deposit & Cash Management Reconcile all daily cash, check, and credit card payments received via mail or in-person. Prepare and verify daily bank deposits, ensuring total receipts match the Rev Cycle payment logs. Maintain an accurate deposit log and coordinate with the Business Office to ensure all funds are securely transported and deposited in a timely manner. Ensure payments made on accounts currently at collections are specifically flagged during the deposit process to avoid double-billing or reporting errors. QualificationsQualifications Education: High School Diploma or equivalent; Associate’s degree in Healthcare Administration or Accounting preferred. Experience: 1–3 years of experience in medical billing, patient accounting, or healthcare financial counseling. Technical Skills: Proficiency in Cerner Rev Cycle and Discern Analytics; strong command of Microsoft Excel for spreadsheet management. Knowledge: Understanding of medical billing, bad debt processes, and general revenue cycle workflows. Knowledge of financial, lending and accounting principles.   Key Competencies Communication: Ability to discuss sensitive financial matters with patients in a firm yet empathetic manner. Detail Orientation: High level of accuracy in data entry and account auditing to prevent lost revenue. Organization: Ability to manage daily, weekly, and monthly deadlines across multiple software platforms.   LANGUAGE SKILLS: Provide accurate, concise and effective oral and written communication.  Promote positive environment conductive to teamwork, innovation and positive morale.  Ability to read, analyze, and interpret professional journals, technical procedures or governmental regulations.  Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, patients and the general public. MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:  Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions and decimals.  Ability to compute rate, ratio and percent. Understanding of debits/credits and reconciliation processes. REASONING ABILITY:  Ability to solve practical problems that deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.  Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram or schedule form. PHYSICAL DEMANDS:  The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential function.  While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk and talk or hear.   The employee is frequently required to stand, use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms and taste or smell.  The employee is occasionally required to sit, climb or balance, and stop, kneel, crouch or crawl.   The employee is regularly required to lift or move up to 25 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job includes close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus. WORK ENVIROMENT:  The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.   Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable persons with disabilities to perform essential functions.  While performing the duties of this job, the employee occasionally works near moving mechanical parts and is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, toxic or caustic chemicals, risk of electrical shock and risk to radiation exposure.  The noise level in the work area is usually moderate. RESIGNATION:  A two week notice of resignation is required to terminate employment in good standing.