• Position: Financial Counselor
• Location: Evanston, IL
• Full Time/Part Time: Full-time
• Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 am-5:00 pm

• Required Travel: N/A

• Education: Completion of some college level curriculum, college degree preferred
• Certification: N/A
• Experience: 2 to 5 years of work experience in the healthcare industry, with responsibility for assisting patients with financial planning, eligibility evaluations, and aid applications, knowledge of Business Office functions. Experience in working with personal budgeting systems and credit extension.
• Skills: Medical Terminology. High level of maturity and responsibility, demonstrated concern and sensitivity when working with the indigent; ability to communicate effectively with patients in stressful situations and with professional staff. Knowledge of requirements of many sources of patient care funding. Possesses basic computer skills, and ability to work in windows-based applications. Bilingual in Spanish desirable.

• Abide by all of the applicable policies, procedures and guidelines of NorthShore and assists in the administration of the NorthShore Corporate Compliance Plan.
• Ensure that actionable items are resolved in a timely fashion or moved to a higher level within the corporate structure of NorthShore to ensure resolution, including the the Corporate Compliance Officer as appropriate.
• Agree to prepare and provide aggregate reports for the Corporate Compliance Committee in a timely fashion as requested by the Chief Compliance Officer

• Identify/verify active coverage with carriers/third party payers when registration and/or insurance verification is unable to do so
• Review COBRA process with the patient, when applicable
• Determine eligibility for public aid or other aid program
  • Screen for Medicaid eligibility
  • Refer eligible inpatient Medicaid Applications to Outreach Services or med/Assist and out of stat Medicaid to Great Lakes Medicaid
  • Update EPIC system as Public Aid Pending and add the appropriate agency in external billing
  • Update account for billing or collection once a determination has been decided with the agency
• Determine eligibility for the Corporation's financial assistance program
  • Facilitate completion of the financial assistance evaluation form
  • Process application
  • Communicate determination to the patient and Business Office
• Apply sliding scale/discount structure
  • Intake/document applicable financial information on the financial statement form
  • Send determination letter to patient
  • Fax completed financial statement to scanning queue
  • Apply the FAC guarantor and update FPL in EPIC system
• Establish extended payment plan
  • Evaluate credit worthiness/risk
  • Document payment plan
  • Obtain patient signature for promise-to-pay
  • Update account in EPIC system
• Refer for eligibility determination by Corporation's Ward Clinic
  • Refer for Clinic application
  • Coordinate application review with the OP Clinic Interview Office

• Prior to, or at time of discharge from the inpatient setting, work with patients and families to resolve outstanding financial issues in order to clear them prior to discharge
• Follow complex accounts through an initial processing period when required to facilitate access to funding or a deposit
• Review previous accounts to determine if financial assistance is applicable
• Respond to patient requests for information about charges or payment plans prior to date of services for non emergent services
• Request a deposit on self pay accounts for all non-emergent services prior to date of service
• Follow-up with patients who are discharged and leave the facility without financial clearance

• Seek assistance for unusual questions about daily practice, including eligibility requirements and business office functions
• Report information about patient complaints and concerns
• Seek assistance for patient request that require deviation from established policies, procedures, guidelines, and protocols

• Follow guidelines of customer service when requesting my payments or deposits
• Review separately checklist for phone monitoring based on criteria

• Keep record of stats daily on stat sheet provided by the department
• Input stats daily into system
• have monthly stats totaled and completed by the first day of the next month

• Performa case finding activities
• Manage own caseload
• Maintain current knowledge base in the concepts, principles of financial counseling in healthcare
• Maintain current knowledge of the applicable rules, regulations, and laws that impact the practice of financial counseling in healthcare facilities

• Use PPE to Verify Insurance benefits and determine the cost of procedures for selected insurances and self-pay accounts
• Coordinate and/or perform payment collection for deposits, co-payments, deductibles, non-covered service obligations prior to date of services.

• Other duties may be assigned as necessary

Diversity, equity and inclusion is at the core of who we are; being there for our patients and each other with compassion, respect and empathy. We believe that our strength resides in our differences and in connecting our best to provide community-connected healthcare for all.