Manager of Administrative Services

Job title: Manager of Administrative Services

RHTP function: Regional access, navigation, and care integration

Reports to: Chief Nursing Officer | Position: Full time, 1.0 FTE

Key collaboration: Works in partnership with Practice Managers, clinical leaders, and the Practice and Mobile Operations Manager to connect centralized administrative services with clinic-based and community operations. Administrative Services and Practice Management are peer functions under the Chief Nursing Officer.

FLSA Status: Exempt

Work Schedule: Full time, 1.0 FTE, five days per week; occasional evening or weekend responsibilities supporting expanded services.

Work Location: On-site at assigned LRHC locations, with travel among clinics and community service settings as needed. This is not a remote position.

Position Objective

The Manager leads the administrative services that connect patients with coordinated, whole-person healthcare across LRHC’s centralized teams, clinics, mobile services, and community access locations. The position brings front desk, call center, intake, records, referral, diagnostic imaging, laboratory coordination, and administrative care coordination workflows into a consistent system for timely access and reliable follow-through.

Through the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), the Manager develops the administrative infrastructure of the RIVER (Regional Integrated Vermont Enhanced Rural) Community Health Network and its Regional Access, Navigation & Care Coordination Center. The position connects patient requests and clinical orders with appropriate services, tracks handoffs across settings, and addresses barriers so patients receive care and remain connected to their care teams.

Essential Functions

Administrative Services Leadership

Lead assigned centralized administrative teams, including call center, intake, referral, diagnostic imaging, medical records, and administrative care coordination personnel. Partner with Practice Managers to align these services with clinic-based patient access and front office operations. Jointly clarify responsibilities, coverage, and handoffs across service locations.

Establish operating procedures, staffing arrangements, training, and performance expectations for assigned centralized teams. Develop shared administrative workflows with Practice Managers and other responsible leaders. Coach directly supervised staff, review workload, and coordinate recruitment and employee matters with HR.

Build and maintain centralized access and coordination workflows serving clinics, mobile services, schools, satellite access points, and telehealth. Define which tasks are handled centrally and which require on-site support.

Participate in the management team and work with clinical, community services, quality, technology, Finance, and grants leaders to align administrative capacity with approved service expansion and RHTP milestones.

Patient Access and Navigation

Oversee assigned centralized call center, intake, scheduling, and patient communication functions. Collaborate with Practice Managers on clinic-based registration, front desk operations, and consistent patient access procedures. Establish reliable routing of requests to the appropriate service or clinical team.

Coordinate appointment availability and administrative coverage for same-day care, expanded hours, mobile routes, community locations, and virtual services with clinical and operational leaders.

Improve telephone access, response times, scheduling accuracy, and continuity across locations. Monitor missed appointments and incomplete intake and support timely outreach.

Ensure administrative staff recognize and promptly route urgent concerns under approved clinical escalation protocols. Clinical triage and treatment decisions remain with qualified clinical personnel.

Connect patients with transportation support, interpreter services, insurance assistance, financial assistance resources, and other enabling services through designated staff. Address barriers identified during access and navigation.

Referrals and Diagnostic Service Coordination

Lead administrative referral and diagnostic imaging workflows, including order routing, required records, prior authorization, scheduling, patient instructions, and status tracking. Assign responsibility for each step and resolve administrative delays.

Establish referral follow-through across LRHC and outside services. Track whether appointments occur and consultation reports return, and route unresolved referrals to the ordering team.

Coordinate administrative laboratory workflows with clinical staff and laboratory partners, including appointments, order information, specimen transport arrangements, and tracking missing or delayed reports. Clinical staff oversee collection, handling standards, and laboratory practice.

Ensure imaging and laboratory reports reach the appropriate clinical team through approved workflows. Track outstanding reports and administrative tasks, and escalate urgent notifications or delays under clinical protocols.

Support tracking of documented clinical review and assigned follow-up under approved procedures. Clinical professionals interpret findings, determine urgency and treatment, and communicate clinical recommendations.

Maintain working relationships with hospitals, specialists, imaging centers, laboratories, and other receiving services to resolve scheduling, authorization, record exchange, and coordination problems.

Whole Person Care and Connections Across Settings

Coordinate administrative handoffs among primary care, behavioral health, dental, pharmacy, community nursing, care management, and enabling services. Support warm handoffs and shared workflows with the clinical leaders responsible for each service.

Work with care coordinators and nursing leaders to organize outreach, appointment linkage, discharge follow-up, and completion of assigned care coordination tasks. Clinical care plans and nursing supervision remain with clinical leaders.

Partner with the Practice and Mobile Operations Manager on registration, scheduling, referral, diagnostic, and follow-up support for mobile and community services. Maintain continuity when patients move between access settings.

Oversee assigned medical records and record exchange workflows, including timely receipt and routing of outside information and completion of authorized record requests.

Work with technology and quality leaders to improve EHR work queues, documentation, reporting, and secure information exchange. Support consistent staff adoption and identify workflow barriers.

RHTP Implementation and Improvement

Redesign and standardize access and coordination workflows through Lean improvement activities and Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Use patient experience, staff feedback, and operational data to evaluate changes.

Maintain implementation milestones and contribute access, referral, navigation, and coordination measures to grant reporting and the Rural Primary Care Capacity Index (RPCCI). Document baseline conditions and improvements.

Work with Finance and leadership on staffing costs, resource use, and sustainable administrative capacity. Document assigned grant-supported activities and effort under LRHC procedures. Perform other duties consistent with the role as assigned.

Working Relationships and Authority

Reports to the Chief Nursing Officer and works alongside Practice Managers as a peer leader. Directly supervises designated centralized administrative personnel. Practice Managers retain day-to-day supervision of their assigned clinic-based staff and site operations.

The Manager and Practice Managers jointly develop workflows connecting centralized services with clinic operations. Changes affecting clinic staffing, coverage, or local operations are coordinated with the responsible Practice Manager. Unresolved priorities or resource needs are referred to the Chief Nursing Officer.

Partners with the Practice and Mobile Operations Manager on administrative support for regional service delivery. Clinical leaders retain responsibility for clinical supervision, clinical decisions, and scope of practice.

Education and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business administration, public health, or a related field, or equivalent education and relevant management experience. Master’s degree preferred.

At least five years of progressive healthcare administrative or practice operations experience, including staff supervision and responsibility for access, scheduling, referral, or diagnostic coordination workflows.

Experience managing services across multiple locations or centralized teams and working with interdisciplinary clinical staff.

Experience in an FQHC or primary care setting and familiarity with EHR work queues, referral management, authorizations, and patient navigation preferred.

Experience with workflow redesign, quality improvement, mobile or community services, or regional care coordination preferred.

Knowledge and Abilities

Understanding of patient access, medical office operations, referrals, diagnostic coordination, and barriers affecting rural patients.

Ability to lead teams, clarify responsibilities, balance workload, and resolve problems across departments and service settings.

Strong communication, patient service, and conflict resolution skills. Ability to build effective relationships with clinical teams and outside services.

Ability to use operational data, EHR workflows, and patient feedback to improve access and follow-through. Strong organization and attention to detail.

Sound judgment and respect for privacy and confidentiality. Ability to distinguish administrative coordination from clinical assessment and promptly escalate concerns.

Indicators of Success

Goals will be established with the Chief Nursing Officer and designated leaders against baseline data. Measures may include telephone response, intake and scheduling completion, appointment access, referral and authorization turnaround, receipt and routing of diagnostic reports, completion of assigned follow-up, patient experience, and reliability of centralized support for mobile and community services. Clinical outcomes and network-wide transformation results are shared with responsible clinical and program leaders.

Working Conditions and Acknowledgment

Work includes office and computer duties, meetings, and travel among LRHC and community access locations. Occasional evening or weekend work may be required for expanded services. Essential activities include staff supervision, communication, data review, and workflow coordination, with reasonable accommodation as appropriate.

Pay: $75,000.00 - $90,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person

Salary : $75,000 - $90,000