HCA 405 Module 3 Job Analysis and a Job Description Example

Starting With the Work: Analyzing Job Duties and Writing a Job Description

Student Name

Health Care Administration Program, Aspen University

HCA 405: Medical Office Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Starting With the Work: Analyzing Job Duties and Writing a Job Description

A job description is often copied from an old file or a template, but a good one is built from a job analysis: a systematic study of what the work actually requires. Job analysis supports hiring, training, performance review, pay decisions and legal compliance. This paper conducts a job analysis for a new patient services coordinator role at a composite eight-provider practice and presents the resulting job description.

Why a New Role

Front desk staff at the practice were overwhelmed. Referrals, prior authorizations and records requests competed with check-in and phones, and patients' referrals were lost. The office manager proposed a patient services coordinator to handle referrals, authorizations and follow-up, freeing the front desk. Before hiring, she needed to define the job clearly.

Methods

The manager used four methods. She interviewed two front desk staff and the referral clerk at a sister practice; observed the front desk for two half-days; asked staff to keep a task log for one week recording each referral, authorization and records task and its time; and reviewed existing procedures, payer rules and complaints. Combining methods reduces the blind spots of any single one.

Tasks Identified

The table lists the main tasks with how often they occur and how important they are.

Essential and Marginal Functions

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers may not discriminate against qualified individuals who can perform a job's essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation, under 42 U.S.C. § 12112 (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). A careful job analysis identifies which functions are essential, such as processing referrals and authorizations, and which are marginal, such as covering lunch. Listing them accurately protects both applicants and the employer.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

From the tasks, the manager derived what the job requires: knowledge of insurance plans, referral rules and medical terminology; skill with the practice management system, electronic record and payer portals; ability to track many open items, communicate clearly by phone and work calmly with frustrated patients. These became the basis for qualifications and interview questions.

How Research Shapes the Role

Research on medical assistants shows wide variation in the tasks they perform from practice to practice (Taché & Hill-Sakurai, 2010), which is why a practice-specific analysis matters more than a generic template. Studies of innovative primary care practices describe navigator roles that help patients through referrals and insurance, and note that such roles need training and clear definition to succeed (Chapman & Blash, 2017). The coordinator role draws on that model.

The Job Description

Title: Patient Services Coordinator. Reports to: Office Manager. Status: Full-time, nonexempt.

Purpose: Coordinates referrals, prior authorizations and records so that patients receive ordered specialty care and tests without delay.

Essential functions: Processes referral orders and sends required records; submits and tracks prior authorizations; schedules patients with specialists and imaging; tracks referrals until consult notes are received and routed; responds to patient questions about referrals; processes records requests according to privacy policy; maintains payer requirement lists.

Other duties: Covers front desk during lunch; other duties as assigned.

Qualifications: High school diploma required; medical assistant or medical administrative credential preferred; one year of medical office experience; working knowledge of insurance and medical terminology.

Working conditions: Office setting; prolonged computer and phone use; occasional lifting up to 20 pounds.

Why Each Section Matters

The purpose statement tells applicants and supervisors why the job exists. Essential functions define what performance will be judged on and support accommodation decisions. Qualifications set minimum and preferred requirements based on the tasks, not on habit. Working conditions inform applicants of physical demands. The nonexempt status determines overtime eligibility.

Linking to Selection and Review

The job analysis also guides hiring. Selection research shows that methods tied closely to the job, such as work sample tests and structured interviews, predict performance better than unstructured interviews (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). The manager designed a work sample, processing three mock referrals, and structured interview questions directly from the task list. Later, the same tasks will anchor the performance review.

Pay and Grading

The manager compared the role's duties with similar positions in the practice and local salary surveys to set a pay range. Because the coordinator's work requires more insurance knowledge than general front desk work, the range was placed one grade higher.

Keeping It Current

Jobs change. The manager will review the description with the coordinator after six months and yearly thereafter, updating tasks as payer rules and systems change. An outdated description misleads applicants and weakens performance reviews.

Involving Staff in the Description

Before finalizing the description, the manager shared the draft with the front desk staff who had done the work and the physician lead. They suggested adding tracking of consult notes as an essential function, since lost notes had caused patient safety concerns. Involving staff improved accuracy and built support for the new role.

Legal Review

Before posting, the manager checked that the description used neutral language, listed only job-related qualifications and correctly stated exempt or nonexempt status. Requirements that screen out applicants without being needed for the job, such as a degree the work does not require, can create discrimination risk.

Using the Description Day to Day

The description is not filed and forgotten. It guides the new coordinator's training plan, the questions asked in interviews, the standards in performance reviews and conversations about workload when duties drift. The manager keeps a copy with each employee's file.

Conclusion

A job analysis based on interviews, observation, task logs and document review produced a clear picture of the patient services coordinator role. From it came a job description with a purpose, essential functions, qualifications and working conditions, supported by disability law and research on medical assistant roles and selection methods. Starting with the work, rather than a template, produces a description that serves hiring, training and review.

References

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12112 (1990).

Chapman, S. A., & Blash, L. K. (2017). New roles for medical assistants in innovative primary care practices. Health Services Research, 52(Suppl. 1), 383-406. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12602

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262-274. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.262

Taché, S., & Hill-Sakurai, L. (2010). Medical assistants: The invisible "glue" of primary health care practices in the United States? Journal of Health Organization and Management, 24(3), 288-305. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777261011054626