“Once the patients have had surgery, many of them – especially the cancer patients – stop by and say thank you so much for getting my surgery scheduled. The physicians are always appreciative and complimentary,” Scallion says. Some patients decide to stay with the physician and change to another insurance plan.”īoth women say they derive much satisfaction from grateful physicians and patients. “Sometimes the physician is out of network for a particular patient’s private insurance or Medicaid plan. “If there’s a physician fee, we let patients know in advance,” Macias says. Once the patient is scheduled for surgery, Scallion and Macias verify insurance. Most surgeries require insurance authorizations and in some cases the schedulers work on very short notice, particularly when an urgent case is added on to an OR day already scheduled.

They want their child to miss as little school as possible, so we do the best we can to work around their schedules.” Because I schedule for the pediatric ENTs, I meet with parents and help them work through any time constraints. If a patient sits with me to schedule a surgery, I can answer other questions for them as well. “As an medical assistant I developed a knowledge base about various medical conditions and procedures. “I enjoy working with patients,” she says. Today she schedules surgery for three other otolaryngologists as well: Ibrahim “Trey” Alava, MD, Ronda Alexander, MD, director of the Texas Voice Performance Institute™, pediatric otolaryngologist Zi Yang Jiang, MD.Īfter completing a nine-month medical assistant program at Everest Institute in Austin, Texas, Macias spent four and a half years gaining experience at two ENT practices before joining Dr. Sometimes we have to do a little back and forth.”Īmerica Macias, CMA, joined the practice as a medical assistant for pediatric otolaryngologists Sancak Yuksel, MD, and Soham Roy, MD, FACS, FAAP, director of pediatric ENT and quality officer for the Department. If one of the doctors wants to coordinate with other physicians, it can be complicated to get them all together in the OR and work around the patient’s schedule. Jain are in clinic, it’s always a busy day because they maintain active surgery schedules and many of their cases take eight to 12 hours or longer. Yao – the rhinologists – it’s usually calmer. Every day is different, depending on which doctors are in clinic. “I had always wanted to work in the medical field and when I got the opportunity to work in the ENT Clinic, I jumped at the chance. “I’m a really big people person,” Scallion says. Yao, MD, and head and neck cancer/reconstructive surgery specialist Kunal Jain, MD, in addition to Dr. Today she schedules surgeries at five facilities for six physicians – facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon Tang Ho, MD, head and neck cancer specialist Ron Karni, MD, rhinologist and researcher Amber U. As the Department’s practice has grown, so has her workload. Nicole Scallion, who joined the Department three years ago, has been scheduling surgeries for the past two years. They’re strong team players and provide great service to our patients and physicians.” “Our schedulers – Nicole Scallion and America Macias – make the very complex coordination of schedules look easy. Citardi, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School at Houston and chief of the ENT service at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.

“In many ways surgery schedulers are the unsung heroes in a surgical practice,” says Martin J. When everything goes smoothly, the schedulers are an invisible part of the ENT team. If even one element of the process fails, the patient’s care plan stops. Surgery scheduling is a critical component of patient care, a complex process of coordinating patients’ personal schedules and needs, surgeons’ schedules, access to hospital facilities and insurance authorizations.

Surgery scheduler salary 2016