Top Utilization Review, Pre Service and Care Coordinator Interview Tips

Have you been struggling to get a job in utilization review, pre-service or any of the care coordinator positions? If so, then I’m excited to try to help you with your interview preparation and answers for this alternative career positions!

By the way, the tips I’m sharing below are tips from our Utilization Review, Pre Service and Care Coordinator Course have helped real therapists get these exact roles!

Tip #1: Have Real Examples

When you go into the interview for any of these roles, my top tip is to have real examples. In fact, many of these companies will push you to give them examples, and I mean real and specific examples.

What type of examples do you need to have prepared?

• Example of a conflict with a co-worker or supervisor and how you handled it
• Example of a conflict with a patient or family/caregiver and how you handled it
• Example of your ability to be a team player or excellent communicator
• Example of a trait that you excel in
• Example of trait that you are weak or need improvement in

When you create these examples, you want to use the STAR method to answer. The STAR method stands for providing a clear situation, task, action and then result. Interviewers may even ask you if you know the STAR method, so now you do!

Employers in these roles will 100% ask why you are leaving your current job for this role, so be prepared!

Tip #2: Research the company you are interviewing for and have prepared answer for why you want to work for that company

Companies like Anthem or naviHealth, to name a few, get hundreds of applicants per job posting. It is very competitive. But one thing that these companies fear, is that people are simply applying because they are desperate and burnt out, and really do not know the role they are applying for.

One way to prove you are invested in this transition to a utilization review, care coordinator, or pre service coordinator is to have an understanding of the company you are applying for.

What should you look for?

• What services do they provide
• What are some unique things about the company you like
• What are key values about the company you like
• Why you specially want to work for “x” company

Tip #3: Research the actual role you are applying for and have a rationale for why you want that position as well as why you would excel in that position

This may sound silly but once again, companies that hire for utilization review, care coordinator positions and pre service positions want to make sure that the people applying like the role they are trying to apply to.

So in addition to making sure you know why you want to work for that particular company, you want to make sure you know about the particular role, like Utilization Review, in particular:

• What is the daily duties of that role
• Why would you want this role
• How you would excel in this role

Where can you find the duties of each job? Usually in the job post, you can find the duties under “responsibilities” and these are the roles you can use in your answers.

Top Tip #4:  Be prepared to highlight how your clinical skills have prepared you to excel in a Utilization Review, Pre Service or Care Coordinator Role

 I hope in this paragraph, I can inspire you that your clinical skills have a lot value! And they also have a lot of carry over in so many career routes such as marketing, sales, writing, education, ergonomics, and for this article in particular, there is a lot of carry over for a utilization review, pre service or care coordinator position!

What can be somethings that your clinical position has provided that you can carry over into these roles:

• Communication: You communicate all day long with patients, family members, interdisciplinary team members
• Organization: You juggle large caseloads, maybe even caseloads at multiple facilities or in different settings.
• Team work: You have worked with different therapists, assistants, medical team members.
• Auditing and cart review: You have a strong understanding of medical necessity, having to know when patients are appropriate for care, when they should be discharged, and what exercises are evidenced based to prescribe.

What I encourage you to do is look at the job posting, look at the roles and responsibilities and see how you can use your clinical skills to match with these roles and responsibilities.

Top Tip #5: Practice!

Practice makes perfect, right?! Many of our students have felt that practice really helped with their confidence and with making their answers strong during an interview. Have those examples prepared, have those strengths and weaknesses prepared, and have a strong understanding of the company and the role you are applying for.

These alternative healthcare roles are very competitive, and so anything you can do to better your chances, I strongly encourage.

Top Tip #6: Have questions for the interviewer prepared

It’s important to reflect your interest in the role you are interviewing for. One way to do that is through your answers and knowledge of the role and company. But another way is to ask questions.

It can be intimidating to think of questions on the spot. So although I encourage you through the interview to ask any additional questions that you may think of – as remember, this interview is about you interviewing them just as they are interviewing you- here are a couple helpful questions you can prepare to ask in your interview:

• What training opportunities do you offer to employees?
• How does the company evaluate the performance of employees?
• What is a typical career path for someone in this position?
• These are rapidly expanding positions, what do you think this career field will look like in several years?

You may have some questions also that are personal to you and your goals too, but I hope this gives you a good starting point.

Don’t forget to thank your interviewer!

Lastly, just as these interview preparation tips are extremely important, what happens after the interview is almost as key to acing your interview and securing an non clinical role.

I highly encourage you to write a thank you email after your email. Just a couple sentences, saying thank you for the interview, how you enjoyed learning more about “x” employer, and how you really excited and feel that “x,y,z” traits are going to help you excel in this role.

We hope these 6 tips have helped you prepare for your interview with naviHealth or any of the other companies that hire for a utilization review, pre service or clinical care coordinator role. 

We love helping therapists and assistants with transitioning to an alternative healthcare career position that is remote and high paying like Utilization Review, Pre Service Coordinator and Care Coordinator positions! We have an amazing program that helps you discover these positions and get hired in just 1.5 months or less here! It includes 2 hour CEU class on Interqual and medicare guidelines, step by step instruction on how to ace your interview and write your resume, REAL questions and answers from Anthem and naviHealth interviews, FREE resume review and edits, samples of resumes and cover letters, Facebook support group and lots more help! You can check out our program here: https://alternativehealthcarecareers.com/courses/becomeautilizationreviewer. 

We have a lot more articles below to help you on this journey as well. You may find the following articles helpful as you pursue this career route:

• How to improve your utilization review resume
• Comparison between Pre Service, Utilization Review, and Care Coordinator
• What is Pre Service Coordinator
• What is Utilization Review
• What is a Care Coordinator