Central Intake Director

The Central Intake Director oversees all daily operations of the Central Intake function to include managing staff and overseeing the assessment and referral activities. This position may also require interviewing and assessing potential patients and inquiry callers. The Central Intake Director interfaces closely with the medical staff, hospital administration and corporate leadership. All duties are performed in compliance with Joint Commission, Federal and State Regulations, Oceans' Mission, policies and procedures and Performance Improvement Standards.

Essential Functions:

• Oversees all aspects of managing the patient flow and data entry from the initial inquiry, assessment, documentation, internal and external communication and coordinates admission or referral to the appropriate level of care based on the patient’s clinical presentation. Ensures hospital staff and other Ocean’s staff are kept updated as necessary about a patient’s status in the assessment/admission process.
• Manage all Central Intake staff to ensure all staff members conduct themselves in a professional manner with all customers. Evaluate performance on an ongoing basis to ensure quality and productivity metrics are met for all Central Intake positions. Conduct monthly department meetings and ensure proactive communication with staff.
• Ensure that all inquiries, including email and faxes that are seeking inpatient and outpatient mental health services are processed in a timely manner and documented properly. Ensure every effort is made to honor all patient facility preference requests.
• Monitoring of Intake key indicators and trends related to calls, assessments, admissions, triage, deflections, and productivity.
• Ensure all Central Intake staff are provided with adequate training via demonstration as well as being provided guides to all processes within the department. Update and re-educate all staff as processes and protocols change within the department.
• Identifies, develops and implements new processes, policies, and procedures within Central Intake to consistently improve efficiencies and productivity.
• Ensure all inquiries are documented in the EHR. Monitor the EHR entries through reporting and other tools for accuracy of referrals and review the employee’s documentation to maintain quality assessments, that medical necessity is identify and that the referral is completed with all necessary information provided.
• Communicate verbally and in writing to corporate leadership and other corporate employees regarding Intake observations and any opportunities for operational improvement in the intake process and any other pertinent information regarding accepted patients.
• Establish and maintain working relationships with all physicians associated with the Central Intake facilities and other psychiatric facilities to establish rapport when needing assistance in placing patients. Keep informed of all available psychiatric facilities within the state and the services they provide and may be able to accommodate that Oceans may not be able to.
• Ensures complaints are handled in a timely manner. Seeks resolutions as needed. Assists with identifying a disposition or hard-to-place patients. Provides community referrals when appropriate.
• Provides ongoing and real time communication with VP of Patient Access about any pertinent operations issues. Generate monthly presentations for all placement partnerships with accurate data.
• Performs other duties and projects as assigned.
  
  

Requirements

Educational / Experience Requirements:

• Minimum associate degree in nursing.
• Current license to practice as a Registered Nurse in resident working state.
• Five years’ experience in Mental Health/Chemical Dependency field.
• At least two years’ experience in a supervisory role preferred.
  
  

Qualifications / Skills:

• Evaluates medical stability or recommends medical clearance and be able to discern acutely medical inappropriate values to determine how they should be addressed.
• Must possess interpersonal skills to develop rapport with presenting patient, family members and referral sources.
• Communicates in a respectful and professional manner at all times to promote dignity, trust and patient satisfaction.
• Communicates with patients and families in a manner sensitive to their age, disability and cultural needs and involves families of minors or significant others in decision making related to treatment as appropriate.
• Must be able to assess and interpret data about the patient's status in order to identify each patient's needs and provide appropriate referrals, including age related care and disability related care by Chronically Mentally Ill, Adult, Geriatric and Chemically Dependent patient populations.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of mental illness and chemical dependency and family dynamics which accompany them.
• Must have excellent communication skills related to age specific patient needs.
• Must be able to demonstrate proficient assessment skills.
• Must be versatile, flexible and able to perform in stressful situations.
• Must have good time management and organizational skills.
• Must be able to work with an array of mentally/physically disabled persons.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office products and electronic medical records systems.
• Must be able to read, to write and to follow verbal and written instruction.
• Must be knowledgeable concerning DSM-V diagnosis.
  
  

Work Environment:

Subject to many interruptions. Occasional pressure due to multiple calls and inquiries. This position can be high paced and stressful; must be able to cope mentally and physically to atmosphere. Work requires spending approximately 90% or more of the time inside a building that offers protection from weather conditions but not necessarily from temperature changes.