Emily Couric Cancer Center | UVA Health

Access is the front door to cancer care, and at UVA Health’s Emily Couric Cancer Center, that first connection matters deeply. As an Access Associate, your work directly influences how patients and families experience one of the most critical moments in their lives. This role is essential to ensuring timely, coordinated, and compassionate access to oncology care in a nationally recognized academic medical center.

Where Experience, Compassion, and Excellence in Oncology Access Come Together

UVA Health professionals share a common bond: a commitment to excellence in everything we do for our patients. As a senior member of the Access team, you are not only supporting clinic operations. You are shaping the patient experience across the oncology care continuum. In this role, you serve as a trusted guide for patients and families navigating complex care needs, while also acting as a resource for providers and colleagues who rely on your expertise to keep care moving forward without delay.

This position stands out for experienced access professionals who want their skills to matter. Your ability to resolve issues, manage complexity, and improve processes directly supports high acuity oncology care and reinforces UVA Health’s mission to deliver patient‑centered, evidence‑based medicine.

The starting base rate for this role is $17.50/hr. Individual compensation will be determined by the selected candidate’s previous work experience, education, and/or experience.

Qualified candidates may be eligible for a sign-on bonus of $3,500. (This bonus comes with a 2yr service agreement and is paid in 2 installments.)

The Role

As an Access Associate you are a visible and trusted representative of UVA Health, often serving as the first and last point of contact for patients and families. Your interactions set the tone for each visit and play a meaningful role in how patients experience their care.

In this role, your work includes both hands‑on patient engagement and advanced access coordination in a fast-paced oncology environment.

On an average day, you will:

• Engage patients, families, and referring providers across multiple points of the care continuum, both in person and by phone, using clear, compassionate communication.

• Manage complex patient scheduling, ensuring patients are seen by the right provider, at the right time, with the right records, particularly in oncology clinics where timing is critical.

• Serve as a primary point of contact for patients requesting preferred physicians and for health system departments coordinating single or multiple appointments.

• Collect and verify demographic and insurance information, support cash collections, and address patient and family needs with professionalism and empathy.

• Resolve access related issues independently, including record retrieval, follow‑up communication, authorization challenges, and scheduling barriers.

• Actively participate in issue resolution and process improvement, identifying patterns that impact patient access and contributing to more efficient, patient focused workflows.

This role is well suited for professionals who are energized by complexity, take ownership of problem solving, and understand how access quality directly affects patient outcomes.

Why UVA Health

UVA Health is Virginia’s premier academic health system and home to the Commonwealth’s first NCI‑designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Emily Couric Cancer Center brings together nationally recognized oncology specialists, researchers, and multidisciplinary care teams committed to advancing cancer treatment while delivering compassionate, coordinated care.

What makes this role particularly compelling at UVA Health:

• Academic medicine environment where access professionals are respected partners in care delivery, not transactional support roles.

• A cancer center serving a diverse, high acuity patient population, requiring experienced access professionals who understand urgency, precision, and empathy.

• A strong culture of trust, respect, and engagement, where access team members are empowered to speak up, solve problems, and improve how care is delivered.

• Emphasis on issue resolution and continuous process improvement, allowing senior access professionals to influence workflows that impact patients, providers, and the health system.

• A comprehensive benefits package designed to support your wellbeing and long‑term career, including Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance, Paid Time Off, Short-term and Long‑term Disability, Retirement Savings Plans, and Flexible Spending Accounts.

• At UVA Health, access professionals are truly the face of the organization, and this senior role plays a strategic part in ensuring patients experience excellence from their very first interaction.