Medical Billing Manager | Mental Health (1099 independent contractor)

Description

Medical Billing Manager | Mental Health

Position: Fractional Medical Billing Manager (1099 independent contractor)
Compensation: $55–$75 per hour, depending on experience
Schedule: Flexible, approximately 10–20 hours per week
Location: Hybrid Remote (Sherman Oaks, CA)
Works alongside: Executive Director
Oversees: Billing specialist (contractor) and credentialing contractor

About Zeeva

Zeeva Behavioral Health is a therapist-founded, woman-owned mental health practice in Los Angeles, built on the belief that excellent clinical care should be both deeply human and accessible.

We work with Medicare, Medi-Cal, and a broad range of commercial plans.

The Engagement

You'll own the results of Zeeva's medical billing and credentialing.

Our billing specialist handles routine claims work: submissions, rejections, and everyday A/R follow-up. Our credentialing contractor handles enrollment paperwork. Your job is to make sure all of that work is accurate, complete, and done exceptionally well. You'll also personally take on the problems that are too complex, too stuck, or too important to leave to anyone else.

You'll select, lead, coach, and hold the billing specialist accountable. You'll work alongside our Executive Director as Zeeva's billing authority.

We need an expert who still loves getting their hands dirty. When something is off, you open the claims, find the cause, fix it and show the specialist exactly how, and confirm it's resolved.

What You'll Deliver

Own the Results

• Be accountable for the entire billing operation: submissions, rejections, denials, appeals, secondaries, payment posting, and insurance A/R.
• Make sure every completed session is billed, or has a documented reason it isn't.
• Protect timely-filing and appeal deadlines.
• Own outcomes rather than attributing failures to someone else.

Lead and Hold the Specialist Accountable

• Set clear priorities and expectations for the specialist's work.
• Regularly audit the specialist's work in the system. Rely on what the claims show, not on what you're told.
• Coach directly, give honest feedback, and address problems quickly.

Drive Credentialing Forward

• Keep a current tracker of every clinician's enrollment status by payer.
• Push every pending enrollment forward on a timeline, so no clinician is stuck waiting to bill.
• Make sure new clinicians are enrolled before they need to bill.
• Track recredentialing and CAQH deadlines, and hold our credentialing contractor to them.
• Trace credentialing-related denials back to the cause and get them fixed.

Own Client Billing Communication

• Call clients about balances, unpaid statements, and insurance questions, warmly and clearly.
• Explain EOBs, deductibles, copays, and coinsurance in plain language clients can understand.
• Set up payment plans within approved guidelines, and follow up when payments are missed.
• Resolve billing complaints and disputes before they escalate.
• Partner with our Client Care team: handle billing questions they can't answer, and make sure insurance and benefits information is correct before clients are seen.
• Make sure every client's billing concern gets a response and a resolution.

Personally Solve the Hard Problems

• Handle complex denials, appeals, payer escalations, underpayments, and coordination-of-benefits issues.
• Rescue claims at risk of missing filing deadlines.
• Find the root cause of recurring rejections and denials, and fix the process so they stop.

Keep Everything Visible

• Deliver an accurate weekly billing scorecard to the Executive Director.
• Maintain live trackers and KPIs for the entire billing and credentialing operation.
• Reconcile reported collections with our bookkeeper.
• Raise risks early, especially when the news is bad.

Improve How We Work

• Work with our internal systems team on reporting and automation, and test changes before anyone relies on them.
• Document simple, practical billing procedures.
• Maintain HIPAA safeguards and accurate records.

Your First 30 Days. We are not looking for a 90-day discovery process. By the end of week one, you should understand our billing operation and its biggest problems. By day 30, you should be actively solving them. That means:

• You own the billing operation. Every major problem has a written plan, and that plan is already being executed. We can see exactly what's being solved, how, and by when.
• Your trackers and KPIs are live. Claims, rejections, denials, secondaries, aging A/R, and collections are all tracked, accurate, and updated weekly.
• Every completed session is billed or has a documented reason it isn't, and the backlog is actively shrinking.
• The specialist is delivering. Clear expectations are in place, you're auditing their work, and quality is improving.
• Credentialing is moving. Every pending enrollment is actively being pushed forward on a timeline, and no clinician is stuck waiting to bill.
• Problems are getting fixed, not just reported. Recurring rejections and denials are traced to their root cause and corrected.
• The Executive Director gets a weekly scorecard she can trust. It shows measurable progress against the baseline you set in week one.

We don't expect every old claim collected in 30 days. We expect a clear plan, real execution, and results we can see.

What We're Looking For

• Deep, hands-on medical billing experience, including outpatient mental health and psychotherapy (90791, 90832, 90834, 90837 and related codes).
• Strong knowledge of commercial insurance and Medicare, and ideally California Medi-Cal.
• Working knowledge of credentialing: provider enrollment, CAQH, effective dates, and recredentialing.
• Understanding of billing across clinician license types, including associates and supervision arrangements.
• Experience managing a biller and holding them accountable for results.
• A track record of improving a struggling billing operation, with numbers to show for it.
• Expertise in analyzing claims and A/R data and quickly spot what's wrong.
• Clear, warm, direct communication with leadership, staff, payers, and clients.
• Comfort with EHRs, clearinghouses, payer portals, and automation tools. Experience with IntakeQ/PracticeQ, TriZetto, or Stedi is a plus.

You don't need a perfect résumé. What matters is what you've actually done and the pride you take in doing it well.

This Role Isn't for You If

• You tend to blame others. If you explain billing problems by pointing at the specialist, the software, the payers, or another department, this isn't the right fit. Those things matter, and we want to hear about them. But as the manager, the results are yours.
• You report problems instead of solving them. We need someone who digs in and fixes them.
• You manage from a distance. If you'd rather assign work than check it, or avoid sitting down with the specialist to work through a hard claim, this role will frustrate you.
• You need a long runway before taking ownership. We expect you to own results from your first week.
• Your first answer is "we need more people." We'll listen to a well-supported case for more resources, but only after the current work is organized and moving.
• You avoid hard conversations. Managing well means giving direct, kind feedback and telling leadership the truth early.
• You get defensive about your own mistakes. We need someone who catches them, owns them, and fixes them quickly.

Contract Details

• This is a 1099 independent contractor engagement, not employment.
• You set your own schedule and choose where and how you work.
• You use your own equipment and your own professional methods.
• You're free to serve other clients alongside Zeeva.
• You'll be paid hourly, invoice on a schedule we agree on together.
• A signed contract and Business Associate Agreement (BAA) are required before accessing any patient information.
• Structure this engagement to comply with all applicable independent contractor regulations.

Our Culture

Heart-Centered. Dedicated to Excellence. Inspired Learning. Brave Reflection. The Power of We.

We don't expect perfection. We expect responsibility, genuine effort, openness to feedback, and pride in excellent work.

If you read this and thought "finally, someone gets it," we'd love to hear from you.