The Associate Director is responsible for providing leadership, strategic direction, and vision to the Access and Financial Engagement team with a focus on the 24-hour day-to-day operations of inpatient and outpatient registration, including patient pre-registration, insurance verification, and face-to-face interviews. The Associate Director will ensure a patient-welcoming environment and coordinate an efficient patient flow for patients and families. This role will ensure that regulatory requirements aligned with registration and admissions are met. Specifically, the Associate Director will assist in the development, expansion, and execution of strategic initiatives within the Access and Financial Engagement Department and across Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). The Associate Director will provide an additional layer of intra-Institute and Finance division support to the Senior Director of Access and Financial Engagement.
The Associate Director will track and trend performance and productivity of staff, identifying quality and productivity enhancement projects that align with departmental and Institute goals. The Associate Director will be fluent in department tools/systems, ensuring pursuit of efficiencies and best practices, appropriately participating in the governance and change processes. This individual will lead and implement new initiatives and perform high-level project scoping, planning, testing, implementation, and monitoring. The Associate Director will also provide ongoing training and education and assume responsibility for staffing, problem solving, and leading by example.
Responsibilities:
- Oversee the patient registration and admissions processes and related activities, such as patient pre-registration, insurance verification, face-to-face interviews, and third-party payer approvals for admissions to minimize the Institute’s financial risk.
- Lead and manage revenue cycle process design for registration and admissions within the Institute and other partnering organizations, including alignment with the downstream processes of billing and reimbursement.
- Develop and strengthen the Revenue Cycle’s relationship with senior financial and clinical leaders, to improve the level and quality of joint decisions being made that have financial, clinical, and regulatory implications to the Revenue Cycle organization.
- Develop long-range goals and strategic plans to ensure Access and Financial Engagement support of DFCI’s vision.
- Work with finance and Institute leadership in the development and implementation of strategic initiatives (e.g., new inpatient hospital). Ensure the registration, admission, and additional revenue cycle needs are being represented.
- Create strong relationships with Epic operations team to successfully support department priorities and future implementation efforts.
- Collaborate with administrative and clinical staff (as applicable) to identify opportunities to refine or redesign processes to improve efficiencies and/or maximize revenue while complying with payer and regulatory guidelines.
- Lead quality improvement projects focused on improving customer and staff satisfaction.
- Proactively work to identify risks, issues, and trends that impact reimbursement and regulatory compliance for Dana-Farber services; analyze and communicate issues to affected areas, including senior management; develop and present associated solutions and participate in the decision-making process as appropriate.
- Provide leadership in the expansion and enhancement of productivity and management reports for the oversight of registration and admissions, enabling the development of best practices and staffing requirements.
- Ensure all critical business needs and requirements are identified and met with automated/manual processes.
- Represent and act on behalf of the Senior Director, Access and Financial Engagement for numerous special projects and Institute initiatives.
- Serve as a role model for exemplary customer service, including management of complex, escalated patient cases.
- Define key performance indicators for registration and admissions and hold management and staff accountable; consider technology improvements and alternative approaches to staffing and completing work.
- Foster an environment of collaboration, professionalism, quality care, continuous improvement and reward and recognition; cultivate future leaders.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Minimum Job Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare, Management, Business or a related field required; Master’s degree preferred.
- 10 years of experience in a health care setting, including 5+ years of managerial experience in a role such as Patient Access Management, Revenue Cycle Management, Authorization or Denials Management, preferably with a focus in oncology.
- Experience overseeing large teams (20+ direct or indirect reports).
- Knowledge of patient registration/scheduling systems and related applications required.
- Strong health care customer service background.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:
- Extensive knowledge of healthcare delivery, including community, state, and federal requirements and resources.
- Expertise with various software programs including Excel, Word, as well as financial and clinical modules in Epic.
- Advanced knowledge of third-party payer rules, tools, vendors, and regulatory rules and regulations.
- Demonstrated knowledge of business concepts including revenue protection, financial management, team building practices, and organizational behavior.
- Superior customer service and communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Excellent organization, facilitation, and presentation skills.
- Strong quantitative, analytic, and problem-solving skills to evaluate all aspects of a problem or opportunity and make or facilitate appropriate and timely decisions.
- Ability to drive change within the organization including experience with change management at an interdepartmental level.
- Ability to partner with management in sound decision making.
- Demonstrated ability to utilize effective financial management tools, information systems methodologies, and supervisory techniques.
- Ability to maintain attention to detail to ensure high quality deliverables, while thinking and operating from a broader strategic lens.
- Ability to make independent decisions and oversee actions of others; exercises substantial judgment on behalf of the Institute.
- Ability to implement professional development and training programs.
- Ability to foster an environment focused on diversity and inclusion and build a respectful workplace where team members are valued for their contributions.
- Ability to function independently in a fast-paced environment while managing multiple priorities and working within tight timeframes to meet strict deadlines.
- Ability to lead/manage others in a hybrid (remote and in-person), highly matrixed environment.
- Demonstrated self-awareness, strong professionalism, a strong work ethic and the ability to handle difficult situations effectively and efficiently.
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