clinical assistant

patient services coordinator

radiologic technologist

physical therapist

registered nurse

OrthoCarolina

This is the most ridiculously disorganized hot mess I have encountered. The left hand never knows what the right hand is doing, which is confusing considering how many different hands they have in everything. Everything is way more complicated than it needs to be, which frustrates the patients and the staff but the patient's at least get to take it out on you since you are the only ones they can get ahold of. And believe me when I tell you, just because you are hired to be a PSC in a particular office, that does not mean you just work for that office and just answer their phones. You basically work for a poorly run, short staffed call center. Except unlike a call center where you just answer phones. They also want you to call hundreds of people a week for referrals and only give you 48 hrs from the time you get it to call them 3 times. You also have to call the 50 patients that got bumped from the doctor's schedule if he decides to go fishing on Friday. But let's not forget that there are only two of you who are responsible for answering "your"  incoming calls. So while you are calling your half, that leaves your partner to answer back to back calls that are definitely going over 2 minutes which means the ones that they missed while on the phone with someone else are rerouted to the overflow queue and are then counted against your stats. This also happens if one of you are out and someone from the actual "call center" has to "help" your office answer calls or if the Physical Therapy scheduler is out, one of your two people has to answer those phones as well, leaving you to miss the ones you are actually "graded" on.  Your calls are also recorded for quality assurance even though they never gave you an actual guideline or script before they started doing it.They did mention they would start doing it in the only staff meeting we have had in like 2 years. You are supposed to keep your calls under 2 minutes but are not allowed to transfer a patient to the actual office they are requesting so you then have to use a spreadsheet with physician and physician assistant scheduling preferences which may or may not even be updated, to fumble around some other office's schedule while trying to field questions about some place you've never been to, again, while staying under 2 minutes. 
I came to OrthoCarolina because it was a smaller company than the huge corporation that I was used to. I thought they would care about their employees, be more organized with smaller staff and that there would be better benefits. But the doctor's I work with, barely acknowledge we exist, everyone is so busy trying to tattle on each other or get a patient off their phone by foisting off on you, whether you can even help them or not, no one helps anyone. The insurance is terrible, I can't wait for this to go on my credit report, because I definitely can't afford my doctor's visits. Also, please never email anyone to ask a question. They will attach 5 other people to it and none of them will have an answer and if they do, you'll find out it was wrong when you get an email blaming you for a mistake you made. Save every email you are sent about changes in policy or guidelines. 
Luckily my doctor just gave me something for anxiety to get me through the day until I get out of here.

A typical day at work is very busy, starting at 8:00AM, checking in/ out patients, dealing with different personalities, ethnicities, and attitudes. Everyday is something different although you do the same process daily. Everyone has their own list of task along side the expectations of the job. I have learned how to take my customer service skills higher, how to multitask very well, learning their computer system, how to smile even in tough situations, and finding out that just by taking the few extra minutes to help patients and all other staff can make a huge difference in their day. The management is very well put together. The manager is very on-top of her job, she will be there to help in any way and she is very professional! My co-workers are awesome. We all work together as a team, help each other no matter the situation. It's more like a family feel between all of us, we all care for each other and want what's best for everyone. The hardest part of the job is dealing with the uncertainty of patients, how they will act, speak to you, if they are happy, sad, angry; you always have to be ready for the unexpected, handle it appropriately with  a smile on your face. The most enjoyable part of my job is to see the reactions of patients that come in upset, in pain, confused about information, etc; to stand at my desk and smile or laugh due to me taking just a few extra minutes to ask how they are doing, to ask if I can do anything at all to help, to make sure they have a pleasant experience when they walk through the door. Although I have come to also understand that you can't always have that interaction and reaction with/ for all patients but you can try your best and make sure you are satisfied with the job you did.

OrthoCarolina is much like other companies in the sense that trying to be a team player or making suggestions to streamline/improve the work environment fall on deaf ears though they constantly ask for such suggestions. Toxic personalities are allowed to continue to affect the morale of those around them and people who refuse to pull their weight are allowed to continue slacking while others work harder to compensate. OrthoCarolina uses Epic EMR but seems to refuse to utilize it to the full potential. There’s a lot of redundancy, unnecessary work done that could easily be removed if new procedures were put in place with new technology. Scheduling templates could also be adjusted to improve workflow but the providers resist changes. 
This company also seems to be a bit top heavy in that there are a lot of managers that don’t have much transparency as to what their actual day to day duties are (as in, I’m not really sure what they do exactly.) 
There is not much room for advancement either unless you are willing to commit to some level of formal education- even for positions that may not necessarily require education (as in, there is no opportunity for advancement based on internal work experience or on the job training alone.) 

Not at all what is advertised for the patient or employee in my opinion. You are expected to herd patients as if they are animals, yet give elite customer service. Benefits are not beneficial in the least. If you have kids, you might as well look forward to finding someone to watch them when they are sick or finding another job. Political influence is strong. You better know somebody if you're looking to climb the latter. There are many, many gray areas regarding everything in this practice including policies and procedures as well as doctor preferences. Everything is circumstantial. That being said, it is very easy to get into a "damned if you do, damned if you dont" situation. While it is a true statement these doctors have the best expertise of their specialty, the sad part is, in my opinion, you are not valued as  an employee or patient. It's all about the almighty dollar it seems.

The best way to describe being a PSC is "you are the middle-person." It feels like a  combination of being a call center agent/switchboard/untrained triage person. Since you answer all phone calls that come in to the offices, you could be speaking to patients, vendors, medical professionals, etc, and it can be A LOT. You could be doing anything from scheduling appointments to sending messages to the clinical team to transferring to another department. This role is also responsible for calling patients for referrals and appointment requests, which the list never ends for those. It is a high-stress job and if you're introverted, I do not recommend.  Communication in the company in general REALLY needs improvement and unfortunately since we're the only ones who answer the phone, we get the brunt of it. You have to know where everyone is at any given time, but this role knows the least about everything and is expected to know the most, in a sense. The supervisors do their best and there is a sense of comraderrie among PSCs, but I was very happy to be done with this role.

A typical day at work is busy and productive yet easy going. We see around 30 patients daily. I learned patient care and medical terminology, especially when interacting with physicians and nurses. The management in my department is satisfactory. My manager is interested in our concerns and opinions. I enjoy the vast majority of my co-workers. I get along well with everyone I work with. The hardest part of the job is the amount of duties and tasks that I am responsible for on a daily basis. Making sure the patients have been well instructed and taken care of, setting up for the next patient, answering the phones and the administrative responsibilities can be a lot to handle if time is not not managed wisely. The most enjoyable part of the job is the satisfaction of the patients. Knowing that I was able to help someone in a time of pain and discomfort is very rewarding. Also the hands on patient care experience that I have gained is priceless.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The work environment was fantastic. Everyone was very friendly and helpful showing me the work required to help the patients and keep records updated.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When patients come in as walk-ins and overwhelming the staff as they try to accommodate them.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Everyone was happy, friendly, and did their jobs without complaints. Very professional to patients and Doctors. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Preparing patient charts to be updated, getting rooms ready for patients, making sure supplies needed for each patient were readily available. The time spent there gave me a great sense of helping each patient feel respected and seen. MA’s read notes in charts before each appointment so they knew what name to use and problem to address.

Working at the front desk isn't physically difficult but could be very demanding mentally. Patients could be very rude and sometimes scary in certain situations. There are so many policies that have to be enforced at the front desk but half of the time the providers override those and made us look stupid. Covid made it even worse. Ortho wasn't very supportive throughout the pandemic and made me realize how little I mean to them as an employee. Their main goal is to pay the least amount of money even if that means lower quality service. Providers are always ridiculously overbooked and we had to deal with the backlash of that at the front desk. Any "incentives" they might offer are almost impossible to get (and they do that on purpose). Just remember, the money is the only thing that matters here, not you. 

A large corporation that prioritizes financial gain over everything else. Has no issue sending home employees that have agreed to work if patients no show on appointments, or  if they feel they can save a few bucks. Full time employees who are guaranteed a 40 hr work week are sent home day of or the day before patient workload is expected to be less than anticipated. This is a huge issue. A company that literally cannot operate with imaging, should probably be better to their imaging staff. The urgent care only keeps one Radtech on staff but requires at least two providers and two medical assistants to run the clinic. One person x-rays every patient and is expected to do everything at lighting speed to keep everyone happy. Your work schedule will be dictated by the provider's appointment book that week, you will not work regular hours consistently.

A typical day at work included rooming 40-50 patients. I entered all electronic medical records and answered triage calls/messages for my surgeon. I learned how to cast and splint, wound care, and organizational skills to run an efficient clinic. My co-workers were all eager to learn new techniques to make our clinic more efficiently. The hardest part of the job was keeping the patients as well as our surgeon happy and on schedule. Each patient requires a different amount of time, so I learned how to keep a precise running clinic. The most enjoyable part of the job was watching patients with horrific injuries heal and it was amazing to be part of the process.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Clinical assistant 3 salaries reported	$19.67 per hour
Patient services coordinator 4 salaries reported	$17.13 per hour
Radiologic technologist 8 salaries reported	$31.31 per hour
Physical therapist 12 salaries reported	$89,542 per year
Registered nurse 1 salary reported	$39.00 per hour

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