Job Description

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Oncology Program Access Coordinator plays a critical role in ensuring timely, coordinated, and patient centered entry into care. This position is responsible for managing the end-to-end new patient intake process, including triaging appropriate services, medical record acquisition and validation, and appointment scheduling across multiple service lines. Working collaboratively with clinical teams, operational partners, and leadership, ensures that patients are appropriately scheduled for their initial consolation. They proactively identify and resolve barriers to access, mitigate delays, and support organizational goals related to referral to first contact, time to first appointment, patient experience, and operational efficacy.

CORE ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Performs patient triage using department-specific clinical algorithms, prioritizing new patient requests appropriately and coordinating across service lines to ensure timely access to care.
• Schedules new patient appointments and consultations with accuracy, balancing patient needs, provider availability, and clinic capacity to optimize access and throughput.
• Performs comprehensive pre-registration and registration, ensuring accuracy of demographic, insurance, and clinical data, and assigning appropriate visit types, resources, and scheduling attributes consistent with clinical and operational requirements.
• Requests, obtains, and validates external medical records, imaging, and pathology prior to the initial appointment, exercising clinical judgment to escalate variances outside established guidelines.
• Coordinates the end-to-end flow of patient materials including laboratory results, imaging, pathology, and other clinical documentation ensuring all records are complete and available prior to new patient consultations.
• Tracks and audits receipt of required records, partners with clinical teams to triage delays, and takes proactive steps to prevent disruption to the patient care continuum.
• Reviews, validates, and accurately enters insurance information to ensure data integrity in support of authorization and billing processes.
• Serves as a primary point of contact for patient and staff concerns, resolving issues promptly and escalating to leadership as appropriate to ensure continuity of care and service excellence.
• Supports organizational access metrics including Time to First Appointment, Referral to First Contact, and First Call Resolution, identifying operational barriers and contributing to process improvement initiatives.

Requirements

REQUIRED EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Three (3) years of prior experience in healthcare access, patient intake, scheduling, or care coordination within an ambulatory, hospital or specialty clinic setting. Demonstrated experience working within complex, multi-service line environments, coordinating across clinical, administrative and operational teams. Working knowledge of insurance verification, benefits interpretation, and authorization processes, including collaboration with financial clearance teams.

REQUIRED CERTIFICATES, LICENSE OR REGISTRATION:

• None

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS OR ABILITIES:

• Advanced knowledge of electronic health record systems including patient intake, scheduling, documentation review, and referral workflows — Epic, Cerner, or Meditech preferred
• Proficiency in appointment scheduling including visit types, resource rules, capacity management, and appointment attributes in a high-volume clinical setting
• Ability to apply clinical triage algorithms and sound independent judgment to prioritize patient access appropriately and escalate concerns within established guidelines
• Knowledge of medical records management including retrieval, validation, indexing, and reconciliation of external imaging, laboratory, and pathology documentation
• Knowledge of insurance verification, benefits validation, payer rules, prior authorization requirements, and referral processes
• Strong working knowledge of HIPAA, patient privacy regulations, and secure handling of protected health information
• Accurate data entry and quality assurance across demographic, clinical, and financial information with a high degree of attention to detail
• Proficient use of document management systems, imaging portals, and health information exchanges
• Clear and professional verbal and written communication with patients, families, clinical staff, and referring providers
• Ability to navigate multiple electronic systems simultaneously while maintaining accuracy and composure in a fast-paced, high-volume environment
• Ability to collaborate effectively across service lines, clinical teams, and leadership to ensure continuity of the patient care continuum
• Ability to identify operational barriers and contribute to process improvement initiatives that enhance access and care delivery