Director Ambulatory Patient Financial Services

The Director of Ambulatory Patient Financial Services is the operational leader responsible for effectively managing accounts receivable according to UnityPoint Health’s policies, goals and objectives. This includes the billing, collections, and denials resolution of all Ambulatory accounts receivable. The Director is responsible for the day-to-day operations ensuring all departmental policies and procedures are executed timely and effectively.

The Director of Ambulatory Patient Financial Services will establish strong relationships across the Revenue Cycle maintain visibility and foster a culture focused on quality, operational improvement and accountability. This position will work closely with other Revenue Cycle Leadership to execute on the strategic direction and achieve established goals and outcomes related to business office metrics while providing an exceptional patient and employee experience.

Hours: Monday-Friday, standard business hours

Location: Remote - applicants preferably reside in the UPH geography of Iowa, Illinois, or Wisconsin

At UnityPoint Health, you matter. We’re proud to be recognized as a Top 150 Place to Work in Healthcare by Becker's Healthcare several years in a row for our commitment to our team members.

Our competitive Total Rewards program offers benefits options that align with your needs and priorities, no matter what life stage you’re in.  Here are just a few:    

• Expect paid time off, parental leave, 401K matching and an employee recognition program.

• Dental and health insurance, paid holidays, short and long-term disability and more. We even offer pet insurance for your four-legged family members.

• Early access to earned wages with Daily Pay, tuition reimbursement to help further your career and adoption assistance to help you grow your family.

With a collective goal to champion a culture of belonging where everyone feels valued and respected, we honor the ways people are unique and embrace what brings us together.  

And, we believe equipping you with support and development opportunities is a vital part of delivering an exceptional employment experience.

Find a fulfilling career and make a difference with UnityPoint Health.

Operational Leadership and Management

• Responsible for directing and overseeing all Ambulatory accounts receivable management staff to include; AR follow up, claims/billing, cash collections, and denials resolution with the goal of meeting and/or exceeding cash budget, industry and organizational benchmarks while managing cost and efficiency
• Develop and implement processes to achieve strategic initiatives, priorities and goals of the Patient Financial Services departments
• Ensure the initiatives align with the overall mission and vision of the Revenue Cycle, UnityPoint Health and its affiliates
• Drive execution and transformational change with in Patient Financial Services teams to ensure effective, efficient, sustainable, compliant, and leading edge operations to contribute to the financial success of UnityPoint Health
• Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders, regions, and team members creating an environment where UnityPoint Health values are continuously exceeded
• Oversee new systems, products, and business implementations for Patient Financial Services
• Assess organizational strengths and weaknesses to recommend enhanced operational model
• Lead standardizing, creating and sustaining a common culture and high performing operation aligned with UnityPoint Health-System Services priorities and serving the needs of our regions and patients
• Motivate, facilitate, mentor, and coach team to deliver high quality, cost effective services
• Facilitates the ongoing learning, well-being, professional satisfaction and development of staff through training, work assignments, increased responsibility, and mentoring
• Evaluate performance of direct reports and teams. Make recommendations for personnel actions and motivate employees to achieve peak productivity and performance
• Ensure metrics, goals, and projects are executed, tracked and accomplished for the department
• Develop procedures and policies for the operation of department, process and team members
• Develop department budgets for staffing, operations, and capital resources
• Manage actual costs to budget and proactively address any unfavorable budget variances
• Maintain a strong, collaborative relationship and provide clear communication with all facilities
• Direct and monitor processes related to accurate and timely billing submission, handling of denials, and accounts receivable follow-up; within or better than established departmental and industry benchmarks
• Keeps the Executive Director of PFS and VP Revenue Cycle informed on the status of significant issues impacting CBO KPIs, efficiency and effectiveness

Performance Monitoring

• Establishes and maintains ongoing performance monitoring, liaising with relevant stakeholders in developing priority projects and providing expert advice on best practice processes
• Actively monitors operational performance to anticipate and meet the needs of leadership
• Maintains revenue cycle KPI’s within established industry and/or UnityPoint Health standards and instills accountability and ownership at the appropriate level
• Drive results by ensuring all staff are consistently meeting their productivity and quality targets
• Ensure revenue cycle data quality monitoring and related training. Monitors work unit compliance with internal controls and develops remediation plans to address identified control weaknesses
• Develop, implement, and monitor appropriate and measurable CBO performance metrics and annual goals along with comparison to industry benchmarks and connect to organizations strategy

Continuous Improvement

• Lead billing office leadership by focusing on ongoing revenue cycle improvement and mitigating the risk of revenue leakage
• Ensure the organization maintains a high level of integrity through comprehensive understanding of regulatory and accreditation standards including Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial and contracted insurance billing procedures, regulations, and contracts
• Contribute to Epic optimization to enhance system performance by creating, maintaining, and enforcing written CBO related policies and procedures
• Improve and promote quality and performance improvement. This includes knowledge of best practices, prompt identification and resolution of staff concerns or problems, providing prompt service recovery and soliciting customer feedback to improve care and service
• Innovate to solve complex problems within the changing healthcare marketplace

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Healthcare Administration, or other similar field required
• 7 years of related experience in the healthcare revenue cycle or finance
• 5 years of management experience required
• Experience working with Epic
• Demonstrates a strong understanding of all payer contracts to ensure accounts are billed appropriately
• Strong leadership skills including professionalism, interpersonal skills, ability to communicate and negotiate effectively through written and verbal method with varied audiences