Patient Navigator

Asian Health Services is seeking a highly skilled and compassionate Patient Navigator to join our team. As a Patient Navigator, you will play a vital role in facilitating access to healthcare services for our patients and community members. Your expertise will help us ensure that our patients receive the highest quality care, regardless of their language or cultural background.

• Greet and register patients, update patient records, and create and distribute forms related to patient visits.
• Verify patient insurance and financial status, and update records accordingly.
• Determine and explain patient insurance benefits and payment responsibilities, and collect insurance co-payments.
• Answer and handle intercom and phone calls, assessing callers' needs and assisting them in getting their needs met.
• Facilitate internal and external referrals and appointments, scheduling, canceling, and rescheduling as needed.
• Make daily appointment reminder calls to assigned patients.
• Anticipate and take proactive steps to identify and avoid patient problems, facilitating resolution of issues within AHS departments, between AHS departments, or involving external organizations, providers, and services.
• Assist patients in completing healthcare-related paperwork, including but not limited to 32 weeks prenatal records, CHDP forms, medical record releases, disability, WIC, pregnancy verification, MSP, and other requests.
• Process patient paperwork, including copying patient records and participating in the annual purge of medical records.
• Carry out phone and mail communications with patients related to their healthcare needs and AHS treatment and services.
• Create a welcoming environment in the waiting area, greeting, scanning for difficulties, answering questions, assisting, and directing patients to appropriate services and staff.
• Conduct outreach/education activities and patient surveys in the waiting room.
• Provide phone, on-site, and message-relay interpreting services for all healthcare-related interactions between patients and AHS staff.
• Provide interpreting services during educational workshops and activities, special events, meetings, hearings, media events, and other organizational activities.
• Observe current codes of ethics and standards of practice for healthcare interpreting.
• Sight-translate written materials between English and the language of service.
• Interpret over the phone, on occasion, for other healthcare organizations and providers.
• Translate written clinic, health education, and organizational materials, acting as primary translator, word-processor, editor, proofreader, and/or back-translator as assigned.
• Participate in developing and implementing tools and activities to assess language proficiency and interpreting skills, and to train and develop language proficiency and medical terminology among AHS staff.
• Conduct patient financial screening to determine eligibility for County Medical Services Program (CMSP), Medicare, Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, and other payment sources.
• Assist patients in completing forms and applications for payment programs, following up on patients' pending status for payment programs.
• Assist patients in selecting a primary care provider and a health insurance plan, including PPO and HMO.
• Contact health plan and insurance company to verify patients' insurance coverage and referral requirement, and assist in completing Medi-Cal applications and perform status follow-up with the county's Medi-Cal worker.
• Update patient financial information.
• Answer inquiries and provide counseling regarding Medi-Cal and Medicare and their managed care systems, and other social service needs.
• Answer phone calls and make appointments for members.
• Assist the Member Services Manager in conducting member exit interviews and in processing monthly member rosters for all AHS' contracted managed care plans.
• Provide advocacy for AHS patients/members due to government welfare reform and immigration policies.
• Conduct medical history intake interviews for all patients, including new patients, newborn infants, and perinatal patients.
• Patient and Community Health Education Duties:
• Conduct and document health education and outreach activities on various health topics in a linguistically and culturally appropriate manner with small-large groups and individuals.
• Perform perinatal intake and appointment arrangements, participating in planning, implementing, and monitoring changes to improve the quality of perinatal services, particularly for our smaller communities.
• Conduct community needs assessments and evaluation activities through various formats, and participate in planning effective programs and services for AHS patients and Asian immigrant communities.
• Develop and maintain contacts and working relations with staff at other organizations serving the Asian immigrant community, representing AHS in various community forums and meetings.
• Coordinate and participate in health education materials development, including developing or adapting educational materials for cultural appropriateness in a variety of formats, translating, designing, duplicating, reviewing materials for readability, translation quality, and cultural appropriateness, and coordinating or participating in Clinic-Health Ed Materials Committee meetings.
• Patient Leadership Council:
• Identify and recruit potential patients for PLC involvement, plan, attend, and facilitate PLC meetings, and assist PLC members in identifying and carrying out their plans.

• High school diploma and four years of relevant work experience, or college degree and two years of work experience in a health setting.
• Ability to speak or read/write in Vietnamese.

• Community health setting experience.

• Knowledge of the relationship between advocacy and improving the health of the Asian community.
• Knowledge of cultural, socioeconomic, and political factors affecting health in immigrant and refugee Asian communities.
• Knowledge of health, social services, and community resources/leaders in at least one API community.
• Leading and working with diverse staff and community members respectfully and collaboratively.
• Innovative, cooperative, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Planning and coordinating small-medium scale projects and events.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written.
• Organizing and engaging immigrant communities in education and advocacy activities.
• Easily adapting to change and new situations.
• Proficiency in or ability to learn English and Asian language word processing.
• Ability to work under pressure and handle multiple tasks.
• Ability to exercise good judgment.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Available to work on weekends (including weekend and evening clinics) and evenings as needed.
• Due to the wide spectrum of responsibilities, decisions have a broad impact on patients' experience at AHS.

• 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 functions.
• Rapid, intense work pace especially when faced with program and advocacy activity deadlines. High level of concentration required, to coordinate multiple program tasks, problem-solving with external organizations, and coordination with other departments and programs of the entire organization.
• Standing required 20-25% of the time includes walking around. Speaking and listening 75-90% of the time mainly communicating with patients, staff, and outside agencies and organizations. Minimal environmental and health hazards, however, will face job stress periodically.

• Medical, Dental, Vision premiums 100% paid by AHS.
• 12 Vacation Days.
• 12 Sick Days.
• 12 Holidays and 3 Floating Holidays.
• 3% 403B Employer Contributions and up to 2% Employee Match Contribution.
• Transportation Benefit Paid by AHS.
• FSA/Dependent Care Assistance.
• Long Term Disability.