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Job Summary
The focus of this position is to support patient and family rights and needs, assist in resolving concerns, highlight compliments of staff, and foster a welcoming environment. The role serves as a liaison between patients, loved ones, and staff in acknowledging and responding to feedback (grievances, complaints, assists, and compliments) in a compassionate and supportive manner.
The Patient and Family Relations senior specialist serves as an internal clinical and operations resource for PFR, serving as a mentor and coach for specialists and representatives, performing chart reviews, clarifying medical terminology, and modeling best practices related to correspondence, family meetings, rounding, and interacting with clinical care teams. The senior specialist takes lead on cases escalated from staff and those referred by senior leaders. A significant portion of the role involves supporting care teams in managing challenging behaviors, up to and including care agreements and dismissal management. The senior specialist embodies the institution’s commitment to optimizing the patient experience and cultivating a strong patient and family centered culture. This role reports to the AMC senior manager, Patient and Family Relations.
Because this role in an active change management environment, the senior specialist will need to demonstrate maturity, flexibility, and open mindedness as the contours of this position will actively evolve over time.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities: Indicate key areas of responsibility, major job duties, special projects and key objectives for this position. These items should be evaluated throughout the year and included in the written annual evaluation.
Serves as an internal clinical and operations resource for the rest of the team, performing chart reviews, clarifying medical terminology, and interacting with clinical care teams.
Serves as a role model, mentor, and coach for recruiting, onboarding, training, evaluating, and integrating staff into PFR and PFR workflow.
Performs chart reviews, clarifying medical terminology, and interacting with clinical care teams.
Meets with patients and families in the ED, inpatient units, and the PFR office.
Negotiates and mitigates expectations to promote satisfaction, ensure quality and safety, and minimize the risk of adversarial outcomes.
Serves as a team lead for meetings with safety specialists, risk managers, and leadership.
Serve as a team lead for Apology and Disclosure and other family meetings, and as a resource to care teams in managing challenging behaviors and patient dismissals.
Conducts timely investigations and response to patient grievances, complaints, and concerns, including interviewing staff and reviewing medical records. Facilitates effective communication between patients, families, and staff to enhance patient and family-centered care and support mutual goals.
Prepares formal correspondence and documentation, both patient-facing and internally, such as letters, emails, and reports, with efficiency and accuracy.
Mediates and mitigates expectations to promote satisfaction, ensure quality and safety, and minimize risk of adversarial outcomes.
Identifies patterns of service breakdowns and escalates to senior manager to share with Patient Experience measurement and improvement team.
Supports patients and families in understanding patient rights and responsibilities, responds to patient complaints or concerns in accordance with DPH, CMS and The Joint Commission regulatory standards for patient complaints and grievances.
Documents patient and staff concerns/requests in confidential department database.
Rounds in high-volume clinical areas to obtain preemptive feedback from patients, visitors, and staff regarding AMC care experiences, when appropriate, and aligned with hospital safety policies.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) – Demonstrate a commitment to supporting MGB DEI initiatives, using the organizational tools and training provided to help identify and dismantle systemic racism within departmental processes, and all other forms of possible discrimination.
Education
Bachelor's Degree Healthcare Administration required or Bachelor's Degree Related Field of Study required or Master's Degree Related Field of Study preferred
Can this role accept experience in lieu of a degree?
No
Experience in patient relations, healthcare customer service, or a related role, preferably within a hospital setting 3-5 years required
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Exceptional ability to build rapport with patients and families, demonstrating empathy and understanding.
- Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to mediate and resolve conflicts effectively.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills for interacting with diverse stakeholders.
- Ability to analyze feedback data and identify trends to inform quality improvement initiatives.
- Strong organizational abilities to manage multiple cases and projects simultaneously.
Additional Job Details (if applicable)
Onsite
75 Francis Street
40
Regular
Day (United States of America)
Pay Range
$70,990.40 - $103,230.40/Annual
Grade
7
At Mass General Brigham, we believe in recognizing and rewarding the unique value each team member brings to our organization. Our approach to determining base pay is comprehensive, and any offer extended will take into account your skills, relevant experience if applicable, education, certifications and other essential factors. The base pay information provided offers an estimate based on the minimum job qualifications; however, it does not encompass all elements contributing to your total compensation package. In addition to competitive base pay, we offer comprehensive benefits, career advancement opportunities, differentials, premiums and bonuses as applicable and recognition programs designed to celebrate your contributions and support your professional growth. We invite you to apply, and our Talent Acquisition team will provide an overview of your potential compensation and benefits package.
2200 The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under law. We will ensure that all individuals with a disability are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. To ensure reasonable accommodation for individuals protected by Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Veteran’s Readjustment Act of 1974, and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, applicants who require accommodation in the job application process may contact Human Resources at (857)-282-7642.
Mass General Brigham Competency Framework
At Mass General Brigham, our competency framework defines what effective leadership “looks like” by specifying which behaviors are most critical for successful performance at each job level. The framework is comprised of ten competencies (half People-Focused, half Performance-Focused) and are defined by observable and measurable skills and behaviors that contribute to workplace effectiveness and career success. These competencies are used to evaluate performanc