The Rehab Admission coordinator serves as the “Ambassador” for Memorial Inpatient Rehab, with the referring organizations (predominately acute care hospitals in the region).  The Coordinator must build productive, professional relationships.  This individual is often the first point of contact and first impression that patients, families, and referrals sources experience have with Memorial Inpatient Rehab. 

Primary focus of the Coordinator is to:

Meet or exceed admission goals by building productive referral relationships and promoting Memorial Rehab Services; oversee and manage all aspects of the Rehabilitation Admissions process; includes activities related to referral recruitment, in-service education, preadmission evaluation, and admission of clients to services along the rehabilitation continuum.  Support the admission process to facilitate a smooth conversion from referral to admission by assessing for admission appropriateness and communicating relevant clinical information.  Serve as liaison between hospital departments and nursing units, patients/families, internal and external referral sources.  Supports administrative efforts in research and data management operations for CARF and Stroke Center at Memorial.

Licensure/Certification/Registry:

• Licensed clinical professional required: Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapists, or Speech Therapist.

Experience:

• A minimum of 4 years of clinical experience; experience with strong clinical assessment skills demonstrated in the rehabilitation of chronically or catastrophically ill or injured individuals.
• Demonstrated experience with program development/management, screening, data collection and quality monitoring/improvement activities.

Other Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Demonstrated aptitude for sales and or marketing skills preferred.
• Familiarity with the resources available for use in assessing regulations and the parameters of third-party reimbursement.
• Good assessment skills and understanding of the insurance and managed care arenas.
• Ability to function independently.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly, knowledgeably and effectively with patients, families, and clinicians to discuss rehabilitation options.
• Demonstrated expertise in analysis, critical thinking and decision making and time management.
• Exceptional communication skills, both verbal and written, and polished presentation skills. Experience providing in-service education for hospital staff as well as presentations for consumers/public.
• Understanding of excellent customer service skills and successful proven experience in applying to ensure great customer experiences.
• Technically competent in using all electronic communication including electronic medical records, laptop computer, iPad, pagers and cell phones.
• Proven ability to function in autonomous/independent role; is highly motivated and self-directed.
• Highly organized, detail oriented, while understanding the “big picture”, ability to take ownership to successfully meet volume targets and strict deadlines.

Referral and Relationship Development :

1. Meet or exceed the assigned admission goals – annual, quarterly and monthly – for rehabilitation services by establishing and maintaining productive referral relationships with key referrer and clinical decision makers.

2. Serve as the primary contact regarding Memorial Inpatient Rehab to the targeted referral sources – for all the various customer audiences including, but not limited to physicians, case managers, discharge planners, social workers, therapists, and key nursing roles.

3. Maintain a comprehensive understanding of Memorial Inpatient Rehab and outcomes achieved that differentiate our program from other rehabilitation market competitors.

4. Maintain a comprehensive understanding of Memorial Inpatient Rehab and outcomes achieved that differentiate our program from other rehabilitation market competitors.

5. Early identification of candidates/potential clients.

6. Education of clients, family members, referral sources, and external payers regarding the effective and efficient utilization of program services and available resources.

7. Thorough on-site or telephoned assessment of candidates, including chart review, clinical physical assessment, and interaction with the physicians, nurses, and therapists directly involved in the candidate’s care. Through this process a determination of medical stability and readiness for program participation is made. Family members or significant others are also interviewed to obtain accurate information as to pre-morbid functional status, personal interests, cultural considerations, and discharge plans affecting the rehabilitation admission.

8. Coordination of a smooth transition from the referring facility or site to the rehabilitation setting.

9. Recommendations and referral as to appropriate care for candidates who are denied admission.

10. Recognize barriers to admission and document and respond appropriately. Work with Director on plan to remove barriers to access.

Practitioner

11. Performs on-site and telephone preadmission screening and clinical assessment.

12. Provides recommendations as to appropriate levels of care.

Educator

13. Educates clients, family members or significant others, referral sources, hospital personnel, external payers, and external case managers as to rehabilitation program benefits and services.

Advocate

14. Works as the liaison case manager with the internal and external case management team to provide a cost-effective plan for each client.

15. Demonstrates positive communication between customers at all times.

16. Maintains high ethical standards.

Consultant

17. Serves as a rehabilitation consultant, with attention to rehabilitation potential, therapy progress, discharge plan and feasibility, and special equipment needs.

18. Assists with precertification by providing a plan of care and participating in external payer negotiations.

Marketer

19. Maintains a thorough knowledge of facilities, products, services, and acuity trends.

20. Develops relationships with referral sources.

21. Prepares and submits activity reports.

22. Develops rapport with clients and their family members or significant others.

23. Conducts other duties including exhibiting and providing tours.

Facilitator

24. Provides information necessary to facilitate referrals and subsequent admissions.

Negotiator

25. Provides referral sources with cost-effective plans for rehabilitation.

26. Provides outcome data.

27. Negotiates approval for a client’s stay.

28. If necessary, negotiates rates with payers.

Collaborator

29. Serves as a contact person for the rehabilitation team, internal admissions team, clients, and external sources to enhance outcomes.

Promoter

30. Promotes good public relations with patients, healthcare providers, and other involved people.

31. Develops and implements a quality monitoring/improvement process for the Rehab Screening Process.

32. Provides ongoing monitoring of admissions/denials paired with patient outcomes to meet quality-reporting requirements of external regulatory/accreditation organizations.

33. Exhibits professional behavior as a facility representative.

34. Assists administration in research, data management, and analysis of performance, education and outreach for operations for Memorial Inpatient Rehab.

Analyst

35. Responsible for analysis of data pertaining to admissions, denials, and service interruptions.

36. Develops appropriate performance improvement plans from data analysis.

37. Review applicable accreditation standards and create a compliance gap analysis with subsequent remediation plans.

Performs other related work as required or requested.

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the major duties and responsibilities performed by incumbents of this job.  Incumbents may be requested to perform tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.