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Front Desk / Patient Services Coordinator Regional Infectious Diseases and Infusion Center, Inc. (RIDIC) 505 Jenkins Street, LaGrange, Georgia 30240 Full-time, Non-Exempt (Hourly) | Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM | On-site
ABOUT US
Regional Infectious Diseases and Infusion Center (RIDIC) is a specialty medical practice focused on Infectious Disease, Wound Care, and Obesity Medicine — removing barriers to healing for every patient who walks through our door.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Front Desk / Patient Services Coordinator is the first point of contact for every patient, referring provider, and visitor at RIDIC — owning the full front-office cycle from scheduling through check-out inside athenahealth (athenaOne).
Because RIDIC serves three clinically distinct populations, this role demands more precision than a general primary care front desk:
- Infectious disease patients often arrive directly from hospital discharge and need rapid, time-sensitive scheduling for OPAT (outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy) and line management.
- Wound care patients return on recurring weekly cycles and must be booked into consistent, protected slots to keep healing on track.
- Obesity medicine patients require continuous benefit verification and prior authorization tracking for medications and program visits that plans cover inconsistently.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
Reception & Front Desk
- Greet every patient and visitor promptly and courteously; acknowledge arrivals within 30 seconds even while on the phone.
- Maintain a clean, organized, professional reception area throughout the day.
- Monitor the waiting room continuously; inform patients of provider delays over 15 minutes.
- Manage patient flow between lobby, clinical staff, infusion suite, and exam rooms.
- Protect patient dignity at all times — conversations about diagnosis, weight, or wound status must never occur where other patients can overhear.
Scheduling & Appointment Management
- Schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments in athenahealth using correct appointment types, durations, and provider templates across ID, wound care, obesity medicine, and infusion services.
- Coordinate infusion chair availability against nursing coverage and drug delivery timelines.
- Build and protect recurring weekly series for wound care patients.
- Work the wait list to fill same-day cancellations; prioritize hospital discharge and post-acute referrals for rapid access.
- Review schedules for double-bookings, gaps, and conflicts; escalate as needed.
- Confirm appointments via automated reminders and manual calls for first-visit, high-risk, and previously no-show patients.
Registration, Check-In & Data Integrity
- Complete the full athenahealth check-in workflow for every patient.
- Register new patients and verify demographics at every visit.
- Scan and attach insurance cards, referrals, discharge summaries, and outside records.
- Collect and file HIPAA, consent, financial responsibility, and program-specific forms.
- Keep PCP and referring provider fields accurate for correspondence and reimbursement.
Insurance Verification & Financial Clearance
- Verify eligibility and benefits for every scheduled patient 48–72 hours ahead of the visit.
- Document coverage details: copay, deductible, coinsurance, out-of-pocket max, referral requirements.
- Communicate expected financial responsibility to patients ahead of the visit.
- Obtain and track referrals and prior authorizations — including for skin substitutes, DME, hyperbaric oxygen, long-course IV antibiotics/OPAT, biologics/IVIG, and GLP-1 medications.
- Maintain an authorization log and follow up on a fixed cadence.
Point-of-Service Collections
- Collect copays, coinsurance, deductibles, and self-pay fees at time of service; post payments accurately in athenahealth.
- Handle cash, checks, and card payments; issue receipts and reconcile the cash drawer daily.
- Process self-pay/non-covered services for the weight management program with correct fee schedules and signed waivers.
Check-Out & Visit Closure
- Complete the check-out workflow: capture follow-up interval, book the next appointment before the patient leaves, resolve outstanding balances.
- Provide visit summaries, notes, supply lists, and orders as directed by the provider.
- Schedule diagnostics and generate referrals to outside specialists.
Telephone, Messaging & Patient Communication
- Answer calls within three rings with a warm, professional tone.
- Triage calls accurately; route clinical questions to nursing without delay.
- Escalate immediately (no exceptions) any call describing fever with an indwelling line, spreading wound redness, uncontrolled bleeding, chest pain/shortness of breath, allergic/infusion reaction signs, or severe hypoglycemia symptoms.
- Manage the athenahealth case/task inbox; route refill requests to clinical staff.
- Enroll patients in the patient portal and manage secure messaging.
Referral Intake & Provider Relations
- Receive and log inbound referrals from hospitals, PCPs, wound centers, and home health agencies.
- Confirm receipt with referring offices and schedule patients within the access standard.
- Maintain the referral source log and close the loop by returning consult notes to referring providers.
Medical Records
- Process release-of-information requests per HIPAA and Georgia law.
- Request and upload outside records (discharge summaries, labs, imaging, vascular studies) before new patient visits.
- Index incoming faxes and correspondence to the correct chart daily.
Office Operations
- Open/close the office, manage the alarm and after-hours phone transfer, secure PHI at day's end.
- Scrub the next day's schedule for eligibility, referrals, and authorizations.
- Provide backup coverage for front office staff during peak volume and absences.
Compliance, Privacy & Safety
- Comply fully with HIPAA privacy and security requirements.
- Follow OSHA standards and infection control policy.
- Complete HIPAA, OSHA, bloodborne pathogen, and cybersecurity training on schedule.
- Report privacy or safety incidents to the Practice Manager immediately.
ATHENAONE EXPECTATIONS
New hires are expected to reach independent proficiency within 90 days in: scheduling, check-in workflow, eligibility checks, chart navigation, case/task buckets, athenaCollector (payments/claims), athenaCommunicator (reminders/portal/messaging), document management, referrals/orders, and standard reporting.
Prior athenahealth experience is strongly preferred. Candidates with experience in other major EMR platforms (Epic, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, Cerner) and a demonstrated record of fast system adoption will be considered.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required:
- High school diploma or GED.
- 1–2+ years of front desk, patient access, or medical office administrative experience in an outpatient setting.
- Working knowledge of medical insurance (commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, HMO/PPO, copay vs. coinsurance vs. deductible, referrals, prior authorizations).
- Working knowledge of medical terminology.
- Computer proficiency with EMR/practice management software, Microsoft Office or Google Workspace, e-fax platforms, and payer portals.
- Accurate typing and data entry.
- Professional written and spoken English communication.
- Ability to maintain strict confidentiality and composure with sensitive diagnoses and difficult conversations.
Preferred:
- Direct athenahealth (athenaOne) experience.
- Experience in infectious disease, wound care, infusion services, endocrinology, or bariatric/obesity medicine.
- Prior authorization experience, particularly for specialty medications, skin substitutes, DME, or GLP-1 agents.
- Bilingual Spanish/English fluency.
- Certification such as CMAA, CMRS, or equivalent.
- Front-office familiarity with CPT, ICD-10, and HCPCS coding.
- Infusion suite scheduling and chair utilization experience.
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Accuracy under volume — precision on registration and insurance data while managing a full lobby and ringing phones.
- Judgment on escalation — knowing what must reach a nurse immediately.
- Discretion — handling stigmatized diagnoses and weight-related information with complete neutrality.
- Ownership — carrying an authorization, referral, or record request through to closure.
- Service orientation — warmth is part of the job. Many patients are chronically ill, in pain, or self-conscious about their condition.
- Organization — managing overlapping queues (phone, lobby, portal, fax, task bucket) without dropping items.
- Adaptability — comfort with schedule disruption and urgent add-ons.
- Team orientation — seamless coordination with nursing, infusion, billing, and providers.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
- Prolonged sitting at a computer with frequent standing and walking within the office.
- Repetitive use of hands for keyboarding, telephone, scanning, and filing.
- Visual acuity for extended screen work; ability to hear and communicate clearly by phone and in person.
- Work is performed in a medical office with potential exposure to communicable disease, bodily fluids, and cleaning chemicals; adherence to standard precautions is required.
- Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.
Regional Infectious Diseases and Infusion Center, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
Pay: $15.00 - $20.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
