Virtual Mental Health Administrative Assistant

PLEASE SEND A VIDEO WITH YOUR RESUME

About the role
The Alchemy Institute is a virtual psychiatric practice serving patients across North Carolina, with five psychiatric providers and a small remote admin team. We're hiring an Afternoon Practice Coordinator to be available from 12:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday, picking up from our morning coordinator. This is mainly task based, meaning the hours are reflected in amount of time spend on any work related tasks.

This is a judgment role, not a task queue. You'll be the person patients and providers reach in the afternoon, and you'll be expected to solve problems, follow our protocols, and know when something needs a clinician. The owner is often offline during these hours, so the practice needs to run smoothly without her.

What success looks like after 90 days:

• Patients get a same-afternoon response, and nothing waits until the next day without a reason.
• Provider questions are answered, routed to the on-call provider, or batched for the owner, never left hanging.
• Billing questions and patient balances are explained clearly and accurately.
• The owner can log off on her non-clinical days without checking in.

How to apply: Along with your résumé, submit a 2–3 minute video of yourself answering these questions out loud: (1) Tell us about your experience in a healthcare office. (2) A patient calls upset about a bill they don't understand. Show us how you'd respond to them. Applications without a video won't be reviewed.

Responsibilities

Patient communication

• Answer patient calls, voi cemail s, portal messages and email s in the shared inbox throughout the afternoon.
• Schedule, reschedule and confirm appointments in the EHR; manage cancellations and the waitlist.
• Recognize when a patient message needs a clinician (safety concerns, medication problems, worsening symptoms) and route it the same day per our escalation guide.
• Communicate with patients warmly and professionally, with a working understanding of mental health and how to talk with people who are struggling.

Provider support

• Be the first stop for the five providers' afternoon questions: scheduling, patient logistics, forms, records and documents.
• Route clinical questions to the provider on call, and batch owner-level questions into one daily summary instead of interrupting her.
• Handle records requests, referral paperwork and outgoing referrals.

Billing and claims

• Read and explain a patient's ledger, invoice and statement in the EHR: charges, payments, insurance adjustments and balances.
• Answer patient billing questions and collect or set up payment for balances.
• Spot common claim problems (eligibility, wrong insurance on file, missing authorizations) and hand them to the biller with clear notes.
• Verify insurance eligibility and benefits for new and returning patients.

Prior authorizations (trainable, lower priority)

• Submit and track prior authorizations for psychiatric medications through CoverMyMeds and payer portals, and follow up until resolved.

Handoffs and reliability

• Take the morning handoff from the morning coordinator at 12:00, and leave a clear end-of-day note at 5:00.
• Follow written protocols, and help improve them when something isn't covered.
• Protect patient privacy and follow HIPAA in every communication.

Requirements

Must have

• At least 1 year of admin experience in a healthcare practice, ideally mental or behavioral health.
• Working knowledge of medical billing: reading claims, EOBs and patient ledgers, and explaining a balance to a patient.
• Experience using an EHR (TherapyNotes a plus) and verifying insurance eligibility.
• Sound judgment: you can tell routine from urgent and act without being told every step.
• Fluent, clearly understood spoken and written English. Patients and providers must be able to understand you easily by phone, including patients who are distressed. Your video submission is how we assess this.
• Reliable availability 12:00–5:00 PM Eastern, Monday–Friday, with a stable internet connection.
• Understanding of patient privacy and HIPAA.

Nice to have

• Prior authorization experience with psychiatric medications (CoverMyMeds or payer portals). We'll train this.
• Familiarity with North Carolina payers (BCBS NC, Medicaid plans, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare/Optum).
• Experience supporting several providers at once.