Community Access Specialist

Community Access Specialist

Full Time

Columbus, Ohio

AndHealth is a healthcare technology company that operates a virtual center of excellence created to help people reverse their chronic disease by applying root cause-focused treatment strategies.

We believe that enabling extraordinary people - united by purpose and values – to create a dramatic, positive impact on the lives of others is the main point of healthcare entrepreneurship. We further believe that healthcare is a fundamental human right, and we are committed to broadening access to the transformative potential of chronic disease reversal to everyone who needs it – regardless of their ability to pay.

About the Community Access Specialist role

The fundamental role of the Community Access Specialist is to speak with prospective patients who have been diagnosed with one of our targeted conditions, describe the AndHealth program to them, and assist those who qualify for the program in enrolling and initiating medical care through AndHealth. Currently, the conditions we are targeting are rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. We will add programs targeting other diagnoses over time.

Is this actually a sales role?

No – for two simple reasons. You will never ask a prospective patient for money. And you will only speak to prospective patients who have either contacted us with interest in our programs or have been referred to us by another patient or provider.

While the objective of the role is to listen to and learn about prospective patients and enroll those who qualify for our programs, you will never ask a prospective patient for money. All aspects of our disease reversal programs are covered by a patient’s insurance or are included in our programs at no cost to patients.

However, we are seeking certain characteristics that are common in great consultative salespeople – active, compassionate listening skills, the ability to understand and present our disease reversal programs to a diverse set of prospective patients, and the organization and follow-through skills to support patients from their initial interest to their enrollment as a patient of AndHealth.

One of the harder parts about the role is determining whether a patient actually qualifies to safely participate in a virtual disease reversal program and compassionately handling those who are not a good fit. When in doubt, our medical team is always available to assist in difficult judgment calls.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a particular set of attributes that are common among social workers, health coaches, certain people with a sales background, and likely others. Those attributes include:

• Compassionate and active listening. You will need the natural curiosity and ability to assess a patient’s qualification for the program, capture the story of their health journey and frustrations, and listen for potential obstacles to success that will require our assistance (i.e. technology literacy, openness to lifestyle changes, social determinants of health, etc.).
• Strong communication skills with the ability to connect with diverse patient prospects who range from business executives to the medically underserved.
• Flexible in your schedule, so that your working hours match the availability of prospective patients. Many patients are not able to dedicate time to their health during “bankers hours,” and you’ll be most successful if your work hours match their availability. This does not mean you’ll be on-call 24/7, but you’ll need to shift some working time to morning commute times, evenings, or weekends.
• Detail orientation in follow-through and note taking. In this role, you will create the first written version of the patient’s health story that will be used as a starting point for the medical team.
• Coachability. This role is unique, and we fully expect you to require training and support. We are seeking candidates with the willingness and ability to absorb and apply training.
• Health (and healthcare) literacy. You don’t need to be a doctor, but ideally, you have had experience working with patients in some capacity – even as a patient yourself or as a caregiver. If not, you have a strong interest in health and the use of root cause-focused treatment (personalized modification of nutrition, stress, sleep, movement, environmental exposure) to reverse chronic disease and/or optimize health.
• Flexibility and adaptability to change. As we grow, we are continuously learning and adapting. To succeed in this role, you must be comfortable adapting with us.
• Curious to learn and communicate effectively about root cause-focused medicine.
• Critical thinking and willingness to communicate your observations. We are doing a lot of new things, and our success hinges on the ability of everyone in the company to identify and communicate openly about opportunities for improvement.
• Technological proficiency. You don’t need to be a software programmer, but you do need to be comfortable using software including our customer relationship management system (CRM), Zoom, Slack, and other communication tools, and you are able to learn new tools when necessary.
• You are energetic, positive, kind, and help make working at AndHealth fun.

How will you know if you’re successful in this role?

Here are a few signs that you are exceptional in this role:

• At the end of every call with a prospective patient, that person thinks to themselves, “Wow. This person listened to me and understands me and my needs. This is not like normal healthcare.” And they tell someone about what they just experienced.
• When one of our providers sees a patient you have worked with for the first time, they feel fully prepared for a high-impact conversation because of your thoroughness in capturing and documenting the patient’s health journey, preferences about their care, and potential obstacles.
• Your patients eagerly arrive for their first medical visit on time and with a complete understanding of how the AndHealth program works.
• Every prospective patient with whom you speak that qualifies for the AndHealth program decides to participate.
• After one of your patients has their first medical visit, you feel genuinely excited to hear how it went.
• Approximately 5-10% of the prospective patients you arrange for a medical visit are disqualified by the provider for a clinical reason. This sounds strange. There will be certain patients who appear to be a great fit for our program, but they are not because of subtle reasons related to their health risks. If you strive for perfection in your role, we may disqualify someone who we could actually have helped. We would rather invest provider time in these cases to be sure we serve everyone we can safely care for.
• The VP of Patient Outreach and Engagement can clearly see from your careful record keeping the details of your work. Meticulous tracking is important in this role.

We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status.