Patient Advocate

Here, it's different. Come join us.

Children's Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs is a top-ranked hospital located in a top-ranked city.

With a regional team of more than 1,000 team members, Children's Colorado has been present in southern Colorado since 2001 and now has team members at five locations providing outpatient specialty care, emergency care, inpatient care and therapy care. Children's Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs is the first pediatric-only hospital in the region and includes the region's only emergency department and operating rooms built just for kids and served by pediatric experts who have dedicated their lives to treating kids - and only kids - and who are directly linked to one of the country's leading pediatric academic medical centers.

Here, we know it takes all of us, every role, to deliver the best possible care to each child and family we treat.

That's why we build our teams toward a foundation of equity in access, advancement, and opportunity. We know teams of individuals with different identities and backgrounds can nurture creativity and innovation. We know we can see, treat, and heal children better when our team reflects the diversity of our patient population. We strive to attract and retain diverse talent because we know a truly inclusive and equitable workforce will help us one day realize our most basic calling: to heal every child who comes through our doors.

A career at Children's Colorado will challenge you, inspire you and motivate you to make a difference in the life of a child.

The Patient Advocate serves as a liaison between patients, families, community members, and Children's Hospital Colorado team members. They work proactively and address challenges as they arise, collaborating to resolve complaints and concerns. The primary focus is to strengthen relationships, foster effective communication, and ensure respect and confidentiality in every interaction.

Department Name: CSH Family Services
Job Status: Full time, 40 hours per week.
Shift: Monday to Friday, 8am to 4:30am, In person role at Colorado Springs

• Education: Associate's degree in healthcare, human services, or a closely related field
• Experience: Two years of experience in a healthcare or human services industry setting, managing complex, sensitive, and escalated customer interactions while adhering to strict regulatory compliance standards
• Equivalency: Two (2) years of relevant experience, beyond stated requirements, may substitute for the Associate's degree. A bachelor's degree may substitute for the required experience in a relevant field
  

POPULATION SPECIFIC CARE
No direct patient care

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
An employee in this position may be called upon to do any or all of the following essential functions. These examples do not include all of the functions which the employee may be expected to perform.
1. Serve as a point of contact for organization-wide complaints, grievances, and concerns expressed by patients, families, and/ or community members
a. Communicate complaint and grievance process to patients and families, utilize de-escalation techniques as needed and escalate to appropriate teams.
b. Provides a high level of customer service support and assistance to patients, families, physicians and other internal/external partners
c. Practices rapport building with patients, families, and team members (in person, by phone, or by email) to effectively address complaints and grievances.
2. Provides administrative support functions including answering and directing phone calls (intake), responding to internal and external communications for Patient Relations team.
3. Provides complex management of all aspects of the complaint and grievance workload, which may include extensive written documentation in complaint system, reviewing electronic medical records, conference calls with families and leaders. Responsible for proofreading and editing written communications with a high degree of complexity.
a. Performs timely documentation into complaint system to adhere to regulatory compliance.
b. Identifies trends in concerns and notifies appropriate parties when patterns develop.
c. Identifies situations which require additional escalation to leadership teams and department stakeholders.
d. Collaborates with other departments to address patient/family concerns as needed, including but not limited to Clinical Leadership, Patient Financial Services, Risk, and other areas.
4. May involve participation in special department projects, committees, and process improvement efforts as directed by department leadership.
5. Prepares, distributes, and communicates reports as needed. Assists with document preparation for site visits by Joint Commission, CDPHE, Magnet, and others.
6. Participate in meetings with clinical leaders and families to address grievances as a liaison between families and care teams. (Care conferences, SAFTeams, etc.)

SCOPE AND LEVEL
Guidelines: Developmental, standard, or intermediate level. Guidelines are generally numerous, well established, and directly applicable to the work assignment. Work assignment and desired results are explained by general oral or written instructions.
Complexity: Falls between the entry and full performance/senior level. Duties assigned are generally repetitive and restricted in scope but may be of substantial intricacy. Employee primarily applies standardized practices.
Decision Making: Decisions or recommendations on non-standardized situations are limited to relating organizational policies to specific cases. Brings non routine issues to supervisor. Problems that are not covered by guidelines or that are without precedent are taken up with the supervisor.
Communications: Contacts with team members, clients or the public where explanatory or interpretive information is exchanged, gathered, or presented and some degree of discretion and judgment are required within the parameters of the job function.
Supervision Received: Under normal supervision, within a standardized work situation, the employee performs duties common to the line of work without close supervision or detailed instruction. Work product is subject to continual review.

Ability to Perform Essential Functions of the Job

It is our intention that all qualified applicants be given equal opportunity and that selection decisions be based on job-related factors. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or any other status protected by law or regulation. Be aware that none of the questions are intended to imply illegal preferences or discrimination based on non-job-related information.

The position is expected to stay open until the posted close date. Please submit your application as soon as possible as the posting is subject to close at any time once a sufficient pool of qualified applicants is obtained.

Colorado Residents: In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Here, you matter. As a Children's Hospital Colorado team member, you will receive a competitive pay and benefits package designed to take care of your needs that includes base pay, incentives, paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance, company provided life and disability insurance, paid parental leave, 403b employer match (retirement savings), a robust wellness program, and access to professional development resources to help you advance and grow.

As part of our Total Rewards package, Children's Colorado offers an annual employee bonus program that rewards eligible team members based on organizational performance. If organizational goals are met for the year, the bonus is paid out the following April.

Children's Colorado delivers annual base pay increases to eligible team members based on their performance over the previous year.