Palliative & Hospice Operations Medical Assistant (50647)

Department: Austin Palliative Care/Access

Reports To: Austin Palliative Care

Supervises: None

Travel Required: None

Our Mission:

Hospice Austin is a nonprofit organization that eases the physical, emotional and spiritual pain of anyone in our community facing serious illness by providing exceptional care, compassion, and caregiver support.

Position Summary:

Provides both clinical, administrative, and operational support to the Palliative Care and Hospice Program to ensure efficient daily operations and high-quality, patient-centered service. This is an office-based role that provides remote support to the interdisciplinary palliative care team, helping deliver compassionate care to patients with serious illness across multiple settings, including private homes, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities, and outpatient environments. All patient and family interactions are conducted by phone; no in-person or clinic visits are part of this position.

Key Responsibilities:

• Responsibilities include clinical support such as preparing patients for visits, documenting medical information, reconciling medications, assisting with care coordination, and facilitating provider orders, referrals, and follow-up needs
• Inputs data, POC, demographics, etc. into EMR. Verifies completion of required visit documentation and assists with creating reports, correspondence, and other materials using Microsoft Office applications. Assisting with running reports from the EMR.
• Schedules Palliative evaluations/admissions. Collaborates with Palliative and Hospice registered nurses.
• Provides administrative support through clerical duties, receptionist responsibilities, intake and referral processing, appointment scheduling, records management, billing and collections assistance, and project-based assignments. Obtain ROI for medical records request.
• Provide updates to MD’s and referral sources.
• Educate families about Palliative or Hospice services and benefits.
• Assist with transfers to Christopher House.
• Upload medical records to patient charts.
• Add admission nurses schedule to admission calendar and confirm admission appointments if needed.
• Coordinates provider schedules and patient appointments using scheduling tools and EMR systems, while maintaining accurate patient data and preparing finalized schedules.
• Respond to email requests from family members requesting information or admission.
• Email brochures, caregiver lists and facilities lists, verify insurance benefits, and daily referral follow ups
• Reaching out to specialty providers providing updates and clinical notes.
• If necessary, reaching out to pharmacies to check stock items.
• Helping patient’s complete intake paperwork, obtaining outside records, and assisting with sending out referrals under supervision of RN.
• Including guidance on team organization; clearly defining the structure and expectations of patient visits for both Palliative and Hospice care.
• Serves as a professional and compassionate point of contact through phone, electronic, and in-person interactions while maintaining strict adherence to privacy, confidentiality, HIPAA regulations, and organizational standards.
• Performs additional duties and special projects assigned to support the success of the palliative care and Hospice team.

Education / Experience Requirements:

• Certified Medical Assistant or Certified Registered Medical Assistant or National Certified Medical Assistant or Nationally Registered Certified Medical Assistant or Registered Clinical Medical Assistant Specialist
• AHA Basic Health Care Life Support HCP Certification.
• One-year Medical Assistance experience preferred.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in Palliative/Hospice/home health preferred.
• Demonstrates competencies for populations served.
• Medical terminology knowledge.
• Knowledge of Medicare/Medicaid benefits helpful
• Ability to multitask and manage high call/referral volume