Mission Statement

The mission of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is to eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation, and the world through outstanding programs that integrate patient care, research and prevention, and through education for undergraduate and graduate students, trainees, professionals, employees and the public.

SUMMARY:

The primary purpose of the Intake Nurse Navigator position is to provide individualized assistance to patients, families, and caregivers, offering education and resources to help promote informed decision making and access to quality medical and supportive care services, helping circumvent barriers to care in the healthcare system, from 24 hours of initial referral to post their first visit. The Intake Nurse Navigator works closely with Service Line physicians, care team and across the organization in all specialty areas to coordinate the patient’s plan of care, communicating with all members of the Service Line team on behalf of the patient.

This position will be Monday - Friday, although may develop to work weekend rotations.

Job Specific Competencies:

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Care Coordination and Communication

• Develop relationship with patient at first point of contact through first appointment.
• Assess patient, family and caregiver needs upon initial encounter (earliest point of entry in the continuum at time of referral or scheduled visit) including assessing barriers to care, performing distress screening and making referrals to appropriate disciplines and documenting accordingly
• Provide clinical provisional review utilizing appropriate medical acceptance criteria to screen and schedule first visit and specialty consultation needs to Patient Access staff.
• Coordinate appointments for consults with support services within established service standards, including social workers, dieticians, genetic counselors, therapists, and others.
• Apply knowledge of payer requirements and insurance processes and their impact on referrals and patient care decisions to establish appropriate referrals, as requested or needed
• Responds to voicemail and myChart messages within one business day and answers phone calls in a timely manner.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education

• Provide education related to oncology diagnosis, treatment, support services and local or national resources.
• Educate patient, family and caregivers on first appointment preparation. Set patient expectations on scheduling, first in-person visit and how treatment plan is determined.

Communication

• Communicate any concerns and perform patient follow-up about timely coordination of appointments, tests and procedures to the appropriate scheduling or care team members.
• Perform outreach efforts across MD Anderson to establish and maintain positive working relationships with key ambulatory and inpatient care team “customers”—faculty, departments, APPs, nursing, case managers, social services, and others.

Documentation

• Utilize Epic flowsheet to develop concise patient summaries for use by the care team and document recommendations made utilizing standardized care protocols in accordance with nationally recognized care guidelines.
• Utilize navigation evidence-based tools developed to assess patient, family and caregiver needs such as pain, fatigue, and performance status.

Professional Development and Performance

• Participate in performance improvement activities to enhance the patient, family and/or caregiver experience across the continuum.
• Complete mandatory training, education and annual core competencies programs as outlined by MD Anderson.
• Develop knowledge of available local and national resources for patients and families.
• Adhere to established productivity benchmarks/caseload expectations and documentation requirements that inform navigation program performance.

Other duties as assigned