Director of Access Services

Job Description

Job Description

Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Direct all centralized scheduling operations.
• Direct inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and ancillary registration functions.
• Develop standardized workflows across all facilities.
• Ensure timely patient access services that support clinical operations.
• Lead departmental strategic planning and operational improvement initiatives.
• Manage departmental budgets and productivity targets.
• Monitor staffing models and adjust resources based upon patient volumes.

Patient Access & Scheduling

• Ensure accurate scheduling of hospital, outpatient, imaging, laboratory, rehabilitation, surgery, and specialty services.
• Standardize scheduling protocols throughout the health system.
• Reduce scheduling errors and appointment delays.
• Improve patient access through process redesign and technology.
• Oversee referral management processes where applicable.

Registration Operations

• Ensure accurate patient identification.
• Maintain demographic accuracy.
• Improve insurance verification processes.
• Oversee financial counseling and point-of-service collections.
• Monitor consent completion.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory registration requirements.
• Improve first-pass registration accuracy.

Financial Stewardship

• Improve clean claim performance through registration accuracy.
• Reduce registration-related denials.
• Monitor authorization completion.
• Improve upfront collections.
• Support Revenue Cycle initiatives.
• Participate in annual budget development.

Quality & Performance Improvement

• Establish departmental KPIs.
• Utilize Lean, Six Sigma, or similar improvement methodologies.
• Monitor operational dashboards.
• Implement corrective action plans.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives.

Leadership

• Recruit, hire, develop, and retain leaders and staff.
• Conduct performance evaluations.
• Develop succession plans.
• Foster employee engagement.
• Promote teamwork across departments.
• Lead departmental meetings.
• Mentor supervisors and managers.

Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure compliance with:
  • CMS Conditions of Participation
  • HIPAA
  • EMTALA registration requirements
  • Medicare and Medicaid regulations
  • Commercial payer requirements
  • Hospital policies
  • Joint Commission standards

Collaboration

• Works closely with:
  • Revenue Cycle
  • Case Management
  • Emergency Department
  • Surgery
  • Imaging
  • Laboratory
  • Rehabilitation Services
  • Information Technology
  • Physician Practices
  • Compliance
  • Finance
  • Nursing Leadership

Decision Making Authority

• Authorized to:
  • Develop departmental policies.
  • Recommend staffing changes.
  • Approve scheduling workflows.
  • Manage departmental budgets.
  • Approve operational process improvements.
  • Recommend technology enhancements.
  • Escalate operational issues to executive leadership.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Health Information Management, Nursing, or related healthcare field. Master’s degree preferred.

Experience

• Required:
  • 7–10 years progressive healthcare leadership experience.
  • Minimum 5 years leadership within Patient Access, Registration, Scheduling, Revenue Cycle, or related operations.
  • Experience leading multi-site healthcare operations.
• Preferred:
  • Health system experience.
  • Meditech, Epic, Cerner, or similar EMR experience.
  • Experience leading centralized scheduling operations.

Knowledge & Skills

• Patient Access operations
• Hospital registration
• Centralized scheduling
• Insurance verification
• Prior authorizations
• Revenue Cycle fundamentals
• Patient experience improvement
• Budget management
• Workforce planning
• Process improvement methodologies
• Data analytics
• Change management
• Regulatory compliance
• Conflict resolution
• Strategic planning