Healthguide - Peer Support Specialist

Job description

The Community Resource Guide is a key member of Guidehealth’s care delivery model, serving as a bridge between patients, primary care physicians, specialty providers, community resources, and the Guidehealth clinical team. This role blends patient navigation, care coordination, community resource connection, and foundational health and well-being support to help patients overcome barriers to care and progress toward improved health outcomes. The Community Resource Guide engages patients remotely and, at times, in person to help them understand their health needs, navigate medical, behavioral health, substance use, and social systems, close gaps in care, and access appropriate resources. This role supports whole-person health by building trusting relationships, addressing social drivers of health, coordinating services, and escalating emerging needs through established workflows. The Community Resource Guide contributes to Guidehealth’s value-based care performance by supporting quality outcomes, reducing avoidable utilization, improving patient engagement, supporting risk adjustment accuracy, and influencing total cost of care through proactive, compassionate, and efficient care navigation. WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING Building trusting, ongoing relationships with patients, families, caregivers, medical providers, behavioral health providers, and community partners. Engaging high-risk or targeted patient populations through bi-directional communication to address health questions, concerns, barriers, and care needs. Identifying and assessing medical, behavioral health, substance use, social, emotional, and financial needs to support whole-person care. Supporting patients in understanding and following care plans, health goals, preventive care needs, and recommended follow-up. Providing patient education and motivational interviewing support within role scope to encourage engagement, adherence, and behavior change. Conducting non-clinical assessments, surveys, and interventions to help patients navigate medical, behavioral health, substance use, and social systems. Using multiple communication methods, including phone, text, video visits, patient portals, email, and AI-enabled engagement tools, to engage and support patients. Recognizing and escalating changes in patient condition, adherence risks, social needs, or emerging clinical concerns using structured workflows. Applying foundational clinical and care navigation insight to identify high-risk trends and prioritize interventions. Operating within a value-based care model, supporting population health strategies, quality performance, and efficient resource utilization across assigned patient panels. Strengthening connections between patients and their healthcare providers by addressing barriers, facilitating communication, and coordinating follow-up. Assisting patients with referrals, transportation resources, appointment scheduling, specialty care access, and linkage to community-based organizations. Using knowledge of referral processes, prior authorizations, gaps in care, social drivers of health, and community programs to support improved patient outcomes. Escalating medical, behavioral health, social, or care coordination concerns appropriately to RN Care Managers, Social Workers, primary care offices, Guidehealth leadership, or other designated resources. Supporting achievement of quality measures, including eCQM, HEDIS®, preventive care, chronic condition management, and commercial payer measures, by coordinating preventive screenings and timely follow-up care. Supporting risk adjustment and accurate capture of patient conditions through structured assessments and documentation. Assisting in closing care gaps tied to quality incentives, reimbursement models, and value-based care outcomes. Identifying opportunities to reduce avoidable emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and readmissions through proactive outreach and intervention. Accurately and promptly documenting all interactions, assessments, interventions, referrals, escalations, and outcomes in the electronic health record and Guidehealth documentation systems. Using various EHR platforms, such as Epic, Athena, Cerner, or other systems, along with analytics tools, Microsoft Office, and Guidehealth applications. Managing referrals, tracking tasks, completing reconciliations, and maintaining detailed records according to Guidehealth policies and procedures. Supporting technology-enabled workflows, including AI-enabled outreach to identified populations. Maintaining accurate documentation to support care coordination, quality performance, risk adjustment, and compliance requirements. Working independently while collaborating closely with Guidehealth care management teams, medical practice staff, behavioral health partners, community partners, and other internal teams. Participating in Guidehealth meetings, training sessions, quality-of-care initiatives, and process improvement activities. Meeting and exceeding key performance indicators related to patient engagement and retention, quality measure performance, reduction in total cost of care, and timely completion of care coordination activities. Communicating patient barriers, system gaps, resource needs, and operational opportunities to leadership and appropriate team members. Maintaining professionalism, empathy, cultural competence, diplomacy, and sound judgment in all interactions. Following all HIPAA, PHI security, privacy, and Guidehealth compliance policies. Serving as a subject matter resource for workflows, documentation standards, patient engagement strategies, and community resource navigation. Participating in process improvement initiatives, including workflow optimization, quality improvement projects, and care coordination best practices. Supporting onboarding, mentoring, and training of new Community Resource Guides, as needed. Providing feedback to leadership regarding system gaps, patient barriers, workflow challenges, and operational improvement opportunities. Assisting in the development of best practices for documentation, outreach, community resource navigation, and care coordination. Performing other duties as assigned. WHAT YOU'LL NEED FOR SUCCESS At least 3 years of related experience in patient navigation, community resource navigation, medical assistance, health promotion, care coordination, peer support, emergency medical services, or a similar role. Experience working directly with patients in clinical, community-based, or non-clinical settings, preferably with patients who have complex medical, behavioral health, social, or financial needs. Experience using EHR systems or similar documentation platforms. Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a remote environment. Knowledge of medical terminology, primary care workflows, referral processes, and social drivers of health. Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Strong verbal, written, listening, and documentation skills. Ability to prioritize multiple tasks, manage time effectively, and work independently. Familiarity with motivational interviewing, behavior change principles, patient education, or care navigation techniques. Strong customer-service orientation with the ability to communicate with diplomacy, tact, empathy, and professionalism. Ability to collaborate effectively with patients, families, caregivers, providers, community partners, and interdisciplinary care teams. Ability to maintain confidentiality and comply with HIPAA, PHI security, and Guidehealth privacy requirements. WHAT WE'D LOVE FOR YOU TO HAVE Community Health Worker certification or equivalent community health experience, when permissible by contract. Peer Support Specialist certification or related peer support experience, when permissible by contract. Emergency Medical Technician certification or related emergency medical services experience, when permissible by contract. Experience supporting value-based care, population health, care gap closure, quality performance, risk adjustment, or total cost of care initiatives. Experience working with high-risk patient populations or patients with complex medical, behavioral health, substance use, social, or financial needs. Experience with referral coordination, transportation resources, community-based organizations, prior authorizations, or resource navigation. Experience using EHR platforms such as Epic, Athena, Cerner, or similar systems. Experience using patient engagement technology, analytics tools, patient portals, Microsoft Office, or AI-enabled outreach tools. Bilingual skills, if aligned with patient population needs. The base pay range for this role is between $19.00 TO $20.50 per hour based upon experience and qualifications. ALIVE with Purpose: How We Thrive at Guidehealth At Guidehealth, our values come to life in everything we do. We are Driven by A ccountability — grounded in transparency, reliability, and integrity as we navigate challenges and opportunities alike. Always Growing, Always L earning — staying curious and continuously improving inspires us to shape a better future for healthcare. With Collaborative I nnovation, we solve problems creatively, making every experience better for our employees and the patients we serve. At Guidehealth, Every V oice Matters — we believe our collective strength is rooted in the unique perspectives of each team member. And through E mpathy in Action, we build stronger connections with those who count on us. This is what it means to be ALIVE with purpose. This is how we thrive — together — at Guidehealth. BENEFITS: While you are hard at work advancing value-based healthcare, we are here to ensure YOU have the care you and your family need and the opportunities for growth and development. Our commitments to you include: Work from Home: Guidehealth is a fully remote company, providing you the flexibility to spend less time commuting and more time focusing on your professional goals and personal needs. Keep Health a Priority: We offer comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision plans to keep you covered. Plan for the Future: Our 401(k) plan includes a 3% employer match to your 6% contribution. Have Peace of Mind: We provide Life and Disability insurance for those "just in case" moments. Additionally, we offer voluntary Life options to keep you and your loved ones protected. Feel Supported When You Need It Most: Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is here to help you through tough times. Take Time for Yourself: We offer paid time off plans helping you achieve work-life balance and meet your personal goals. Support Your New Family: Welcoming a new family member takes time and commitment. Guidehealth offers paid parental leave to give you the time you need. Learn and Grow: Your professional growth is important to us. Guidehealth offers various resources dedicated to your learning and development to advance your career with us. All full-time employees of Guidehealth who work 30 hours per week or more are eligible for our comprehensive benefits package. Temporary employees and contractors are not eligible for benefits. COMPENSATION: The listed compensation range listed is paid bi-weekly per our standard payroll practices. Final base pay decisions are dependent upon a variety of factors which may include, but are not limited to: skill set, years of relevant experience, education, location, and licensure/certifications. OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYMENT Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are at the core of Guidehealth’s values. We are an equal opportunity employer. We enthusiastically accept our responsibility to make employment decisions without regard to race, religious creed, color, age, sex, sexual orientation and identity, national origin, citizenship, religion, marital status, familial status, physical, sensory, or medical disability, Family and Medical Leave, military or veteran status, pregnancy, childbirth or other related medical conditions, or any other classification protected by federal, state, and local laws and ordinances. Our management is fully dedicated to ensuring the fulfillment of this policy with respect to hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, recruitment advertising, pay, and other forms of compensation, training, and general treatment during employment. OUR COMITTMENT TO PROTECTION OF PATIENT AND COMPANY DATA This position is responsible for following all Security policies and procedures in order to protect all PHI and PII under Guidehealth’s custodianship as well as Guidehealth Intellectual Properties. For any security-specific roles, the responsibilities would be further defined by the hiring manager. As a remote-first organization handling sensitive healthcare data, Guidehealth verifies candidate identity at multiple stages of the hiring and onboarding to safeguard patient privacy, data security, and compliance requirements. REMOTE WORK TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS Guidehealth is a fully remote company. We provide new employees with the necessary equipment to function in their role at no charge to the employee. Employees provide their own internet connection, capable of conducting video calls on camera and connecting to various internal and external systems. The required internet speed is a minimum of 100 mbps download, 10 mbps upload. Please run a speed test here to confirm your internet connection meets these requirements. SECONDARY EMPLOYMENT At Guidehealth, we value transparency and collaboration as part of our commitment to excellence. As your primary employer, we kindly ask all team members to disclose any secondary employment, regardless of whether it may present a potential conflict of interest. To ensure smooth teamwork and availability, employees must be accessible during our stated working hours. We foster connection and engagement by asking team members to join virtual meetings with their cameras on. WHO IS GUIDEHEALTH? Guidehealth is a data-powered, performance-driven healthcare company dedicated to operational excellence. Our goal is to make great healthcare affordable, improve the health of patients, and restore the fulfillment of practicing medicine for providers. Driven by empathy and powered by AI and predictive analytics, Guidehealth leverages remotely-embedded Healthguides™ and a centralized Managed Service Organization to build stronger connections with patients and providers. Physician-led, Guidehealth empowers our partners to deliver high-quality healthcare focused on outcomes and value inside and outside the exam room for all patients. As a growing and innovative organization, we operate with a high degree of agility. Employees are expected to adapt to evolving business needs, step in to support cross-functional initiatives, and contribute beyond traditional role boundaries when needed. This collaborative and flexible mindset is essential to our success. We encourage cross-training, ongoing development, and a commitment to learning across all areas of the business—ensuring we continue to grow and you continue to thrive as a high-performing, mission-driven team. Join us as we put healthcare on a better path!!