Patient Navigator - Dialysis

It's more than a career, it's a calling.

MO-SSM Health DePaul Hospital - St. Louis

Worker Type:

Regular

Job Summary:

Focuses on engaging and educating in-patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and enrolling them in personalized, high-touch care programs, ensuring informed patient choice and connection to the appropriate outpatient dialysis clinic.

Job Responsibilities and Requirements:

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Meets with each hospitalized patient who has a dialysis order to provide kidney coordination support. Maintains a daily patient list, prioritizes time sensitive discharges, and coordinates next steps to support throughput and discharge efficiency.
• Acts as a crucial liaison to help patients understand their condition, manage care, and navigate treatment options in a complex healthcare system, setting up appointments, and removing barriers to care.
• Educates patients and families on dialysis options and what to expect, including home dialysis when appropriate.
• Coordinates transition-of-care documentation and discharge communication with receiving dialysis providers.
• Facilitates outpatient dialysis clinic selection and coordinates follow-up to support a timely, safe discharge. Transmits discharge summaries and other required transition documents to the patient's receiving dialysis clinic.
• Partners with case management/social work, inpatient dialysis, nephrology, and bedside teams to ensure continuity of care and focus on maintaining kidney function through education, diet, and lifestyle changes.
• Tracks workload and outcomes (e.g., patients seen, new enrollments) and contributes to routine reporting against defined performance metrics.
• Maintains HIPAA/privacy compliance and uses secure processes when sharing protected health information with outside facilities.
• Works in constant state of alertness and safe manner. 
• Performs other duties as assigned. 

EDUCATION

• High School diploma/GED or 10 years of work experience

EXPERIENCE

• Two years of dialysis experience and/or strong working knowledge of hemodialysis and common outpatient dialysis workflows

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Constant standing and walking.
• Frequent use of hearing and speech to share information through oral communication.
• Frequent use of hearing to distinguish body sounds and/or hear alarms, malfunctioning machinery, etc.
• Frequent lifting/carrying and pushing/pulling objects weighing 0-25 lbs.
• Frequent reaching, gripping, and keyboard use/data entry.
• Frequent use of vision for distances near (20 inches or less) and far (20 feet or more) and to identify and distinguish colors.
• Occasional bending, stooping, crawling, kneeling, sitting, squatting and repetitive foot/leg and hand/arm movements.
• Occasional use of vision to judge distances and spatial relationships.
• Occasional lifting/carrying and pushing/pulling objects weighing 25-50 lbs.
• Occasional lifting/moving patients.
• Occasional use of smell to detect/recognize odors.
• Occasional driving.

REQUIRED PROFESSIONAL LICENSE AND/OR CERTIFICATIONS 

• None

Work Shift:

Day Shift (United States of America)

Employee

Department:

8570010130 Kidney Navigators

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

40

Benefits:

SSM Health values our exceptional employees by offering a comprehensive benefits package to fit their needs.

• Paid Parental Leave: we offer eligible team members one week of paid parental leave for newborns or newly adopted children (pro-rated based on FTE). 

• Flexible Payment Options: our voluntary benefit offered through DailyPay offers eligible hourly team members instant access to their earned, unpaid base pay (fees may apply) before payday.

• Upfront Tuition Coverage: we provide upfront tuition coverage through FlexPath Funded for eligible team members. 

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SSM Health is an equal opportunity employer. SSM Health does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Click here to learn more.