The Collection Specialist is responsible for the maintenance of all patient account balances. The position plays a critical role in the medical billing office by minimizing bad debts, tracking account statuses and resolving patient account related issues timely. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Billing Duties: 60%

· Generate and process all patient statements on a weekly basis; be able to redistribute overpayments to cover past due amounts to ensure statement accuracy

· Contacts and follows up with individuals to reconcile patient accounts. Includes management of payment plans, bad debt and past due balances that could lead to collection action

· Labeling accounts as past due or bad debt for communication across the company of outstanding balances

· Report accounts for our pre-collection company according to VSON policy on a weekly basis

· Verify and approve all accounts moving from soft collections to hard collections according to VSON policy on a weekly basis

· Remove accounts from soft/hard collections based on VSON policy

· Able to answer inquiries from fellow staff about current account status and make updates as new payments or information is received. 

· Provide further documentation to the collection agency regarding patient accounts upon their request

· Able to explain payment and billing policies to patients; resolve discrepancies or disputes regarding a patient account; escalate accounts as needed

· Able to explain basic insurance concepts to patient inquiries.

· Interact professionally with patients and their family members. Assists with patient account inquiries and resolutions via phone and email

· Responsible for gathering and providing a patient/ insurance refund spreadsheet twice a month for approval

· Will then post all refunds accurately in the EMR in a timely manner

· Provide back up support for other billing team members in various areas to include payment posting, insurance verification, billing accounts receivable, month end closing duties

Accounting Duties: 20%

· Performs minor bookkeeping duties, such as data entry into monthly spreadsheets and posting patient unposted payments to balances

· Able to reconcile credit card payments taken through EMR with the deposit daily; find and manage discrepancies in a timely manner

Other Duties: 20%

· Meet the Company’s expectations as described in the VSON Policies and Practices.

· Maintain confidentiality of Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in accordance with company Policies and State and Federal laws, including OHSA and HIPAA regulations.

· Perform the job in accordance with all company safety practices.

· Maintains work area in a neat and orderly manner

· Works as a team player

· Other duties as assigned.

Work Environment and Conditions

This job operates in a professional office environment. The noise level is usually moderate. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Work may be stressful at times. Interaction with others is constant and may be interruptive.

Physical Demands

Work may require sitting for long periods of time, stooping, bending and stretching for supplies with occasional lifting of files or paper weighing up to 50 pounds.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. It is necessary to view a computer monitor for long periods of time.

Duties require manual dexterity sufficient to operate a keyboard and mouse, operate a calculator, telephone, copier, scanner and other office equipment as necessary.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

· Solid knowledge of monitoring and patient accounts preferably in a medical billing office

· Strong attention to detail and highly organized

· Strong skills in conflict resolution and de-escalation

· Skill in developing and maintaining relationships, and communicating calmly and clearly with patients, medical staff and the public.

· Strong working knowledge of computers, including Outlook, Microsoft Word and Excel

· Knowledge of English grammar, spelling and punctuation in order to interpret and follow oral and written instruction, keep detailed records, and sort and file materials correctly by alphabetic or numeric systems.

· Ability to identify gaps in information and independently solve problems

· Knowledge of basic arithmetic to make simple calculations.

· Ability to work under pressure, with interruptions and deadlines.

Education, Experience and Certificates

· High school diploma or equivalent preferred.

· Vocational school or some college preferred.

· Minimum of 1-2 years collections office experience required; experience in medical billing collections preferred;