Patient Placement Specialist

J  o  b    D  e  s  c  r  i  p  t  i  o  n

JOB INFORMATION

Effective Date:

8/11/2026

Entity:

Wisconsin

Job Code:

310033

Job Title:

Patient Placement Specialist

FLSA Exemption Status:

Non-Exempt

Management Level:

Individual Contributor

JOB SUMMARY

The Patient Placement Specialist is responsible for managing the utilization of UW Health's inpatient beds at UnityPoint Health – Meriter, University Hospital, East Madison Hospital, and American Family Children's Hospital to facilitate efficient patient progression from all portals of entry to the system's inpatient setting. The Patient Placement Specialist supports the delivery of patient care by efficiently assigning patients to an appropriate inpatient bed and maximizes census within established hospital and departmental policies in collaboration with clinical teams. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

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Process bed requests in the electronic medical record

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Field calls to the Access Center for patient placement and escalate challenging admissions, complex bed requests, and patient flow issues to the Access Center Care Team Leader

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Ensure all bed requests are entered through the UW Health and UnityPoint Health – Meriter electronic medical record software(s), providing education to end users as necessary

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Place all non-complex patients based on the Patient Placement Matrix

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Arrange for special care beds, ICUs, monitors, equipment needs, and accommodations for patients

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Ensure timely communication of bed assignments and cancellations to sending/receiving units

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Following room reservation, follow bed assignment until the patient occupies the bed. Escalate delays to the Care Team Leader.

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Provide customer service to and facilitate communication with referring and accepting providers as needed

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Coordinate transportation needs and bed reservations for direct admissions, providing an arrival time and assigned bed on the phone when possible

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Monitor system-wide patient movement goals, Emergency Department boarding times for patients waiting for placement, and pre-admitted/special procedures patients and the surgery schedule to anticipate admission bed requests

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Evaluate the appropriateness of bed holds. Follow up on assigned, prepared beds that are not occupied.

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Optimize technological tools to communicate cancelled discharges and priority clean requests

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Follow up on expected discharge dates that have passed or do not yet have an active order

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Help to identify available beds within the region when UW Health system hospitals are at critical capacity

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Prepare, reconcile, and summarize previous day census and capacity reports (level of care changes, unexpected admissions, discharged patients, lost patients, etc.)

As needed, additional responsibilities reasonably within the scope of duties and physical requirements may be assigned.  ALL DUTIES AND REQUIREMENTS MUST BE PERFORMED CONSISTENT WITH THE UW HEALTH PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND RESPECT FOR PEOPLE COMMITTMENTS.

X

Non-Clinical

JOB REQUIREMENTS

No minimum education

Required

High School Diploma or equivalent.

Preferred

Bachelor's Degree

in a healthcare related field

Preferred

1 year

of healthcare experience in a role such as Medical Assistant, Nursing Assistant, EMT, Emergency Department Coordinator, Surgical Technologist, or other relevant clinical or administrative title

Required

3 years

of progressively responsible experience in a hospital admissions office, as an inpatient Health Unit Coordinator, or related function

Preferred

LICENSE, CERTIFICATIONS, AND REGISTRATIONS MUST BE MAINTAINED PER UW HEALTH POLICY. 

•

High level of interpersonal skills to establish working relationships with physicians and administrative and nursing staff

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Ability to function independently without supervision and establish work priorities

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Maintain close attention to detail

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High level of technical skill to learn various systems and operate them efficiently

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Knowledge of health system and interdepartmental hospital functions

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS/WORKING CONDITIONS

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Sedentary: Sedentary work involves lifting no more than 10 pounds at a time and occasionally lifting or carrying articles like docket files, ledgers, and small tools. Although a sedentary job is defined as one which involves sitting, a certain amount of walking and standing is often necessary in carrying out job duties. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required occasionally and other sedentary criteria are met.

Up to 10#

Negligible

Negligible

☐

Light: Light work involves lifting no more than 20 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 10 pounds. Even though the weight lifted may be very little, a job is in this category when it requires a good deal of walking or standing, or when it involves sitting most of the time with some pushing and pulling of arm or leg controls. To be considered capable of performing a full or wide range of light work, you must have the ability to do substantially all of these activities. If someone can do light work, we determine that they can also do sedentary work, unless there are additional limiting factors such as loss of fine dexterity or inability to sit for long periods of time.

up to 20#

Up to 10# or requires significant walking or standing or requires pushing/pulling of arm/leg controls.

Negligible or constant push/pull of items of negligible weight

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Medium: Medium work involves lifting no more than 50 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 pounds. If someone can do medium work, we determine that they can also do sedentary and light work.

20-50#

10-25#

Negligible-10#

☐

Heavy: Heavy work involves lifting no more than 100 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing up to 50 pounds. If someone can do heavy work, we determine that they can also do medium, light, and sedentary work.

50-100#

25-50#

10-20#

☐

Very Heavy: Very heavy work involves lifting objects weighing more than 100 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects weighing 50 pounds or more. If someone can do very heavy work, we determine that they can also do heavy, medium, light, and sedentary work.

Over 100#

Over 50#

Over 20#

Other - list any other physical requirements or bona fide occupational qualifications not indicated above:

Over 50 lbs.

UW Health does not require, nor does it expect that its employees lift more than 50 lbs unassisted. Objects in excess of 50 lbs should be lifted or moved with mechanical means or through a team lift. Employees in patient care areas are expected to utilize mechanical lifts and adhere to the "Use of Mechanical Lifts (Liko)" policy in the Patient Services Policy and Procedure Manual.

Note: The purpose of this document is to describe the general nature and level of work performed by personnel so classified; it is not intended to serve as an inclusive list of all responsibilities associated with this position.

THE EMPLOYEE MUST BE ABLE TO COMPLETE ALL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE JOB WITH OR WITHOUT AN APPROVED ACCOMODATION. Note: The purpose of this document is to describe the general nature and level of work performed by personnel so classified; it is not intended to serve as an inclusive list of all responsibilities associated with this position.