Full Job Description
Penn Medicine has a unique opportunity for a talented professional to join us as Senior Advisor, Patient Relations. When patients and families face challenges that cannot be resolved through traditional channels, the Senior Advisor becomes the bridge to solutions.
Reporting to the Chief of Staff, the Senior Advisor serves as the executive point of contact for escalated patient issues originating from the Office of the CEO and other key stakeholders. In this individual contributor role, you will serve as a liaison between executive leadership and operational departments, including clinical services, hospitals, outpatient sites and revenue cycle to drive proactive resolution.
As a trusted partner to executive leadership, you will take ownership of complex, escalated patient concerns, working across various departments to ensure that issues are thoughtfully addressed, tracked and seen through to completion. By viewing each issue through the lens of the patient and family, you combine empathy with action, ensuring that concerns are addressed with the necessary urgency, compassion and follow-through required to deliver the elevated type of experience we strive for.
Executive Issue Management & Resolution:
Manage and triage escalated patient complaints, inquiries and access requests referred directly from the CEO and Chief of Staff.
Serve as the primary communicator for high-visibility patient and family escalations, ensuring alignment with executive leadership messaging.
Maintain tracking and documentation of escalated issues and their resolution.
Liaison with Operational Departments:
Partner with ambulatory operations, clinic managers and scheduling leadership to resolve barriers preventing timely patient access.
Coordinate with inpatient and outpatient services, social work and nursing leadership to address navigation breakdowns during transitions of care.
Partner with revenue cycle team including patient financial services, insurance verification and billing teams to resolve disputed charges and billing inquiries.
Work with both Patient Engagement Center and Patient Facilitated Services to leverage patient navigation functions for inpatient stays or coordination of ambulatory care.
Connect patients or families with financial counseling and assistance reviews for escalated patient affordability concerns.
Complete handoffs to entity-based patient and guest relations teams to resolve patient complaints that are received through executive leadership.
Executive Reporting:
Prepare regular updates and qualitative summaries for the Chief of Staff and CEO regarding complaint categories, resolution times and root causes.
Facilitate continuous feedback loop with CEO and Chief of Staff to update on resolution of escalated issues.
Location: This is an onsite role in Philadelphia, PA.
Qualifications
Education:
Bachelor's Degree in Health Sciences, Nursing, Healthcare, Organizational Development, Business or Hospitality (Required)
Master's Degree (Preferred)
Experience:
Minimum 5 years of patient and/or guest relations experience.
Nursing or clinical case management experience strongly preferred.
Experience with project management for executive level initiatives.
Demonstrated success achieving resolution for complex patient, family or customer concerns requiring discretion, diplomacy and sound judgment.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including experience preparing concise summaries, updates and recommendations for senior leaders.
Proven ability to manage multiple competing priorities while maintaining attention to detail, accountability and timely follow-through.
Experience working in highly matrixed healthcare environments and collaborating effectively across clinical, operational and administrative functions.
Ability to remain calm and effective when managing urgent requests or high-visibility escalations.
