Business Development Specialist

Business Development Specialist

Advocate Support Services, Inc. is hiring a full-time Business Development Specialist to support our Maryland community-based Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP).

This role is responsible for building ethical, compliant, and sustainable referral partnerships that increase qualified PRP referrals, improve referral-source engagement, support completed admissions, and contribute to census growth. The Business Development Specialist manages a defined territory across Advocate's Greater Baltimore / Central Maryland service area, develops and maintains referral-source relationships, and tracks all outreach activity in HubSpot CRM.

The right candidate is a disciplined relationship-builder with healthcare or behavioral health outreach experience, strong CRM habits, field-based follow-through, and the judgment to represent Advocate professionally in a compliance-driven Medicaid behavioral health environment.

This is a full-time, exempt, field-based / hybrid role based in Annapolis, Maryland, with local outreach, office meetings, community meetings, huddles, and virtual work as assigned.

Key Responsibilities

• Build, maintain, and deepen ethical referral-source relationships with outpatient behavioral health providers, hospitals, discharge planners, social workers, care coordinators, community providers, shelters, community organizations, and other appropriate referral partners.
• Develop and execute a structured outreach plan for Advocate's Greater Baltimore / Central Maryland service area, organized by referral-source segment, relationship stage, and territory priority.
• Manage an active book of referral-source accounts in HubSpot, including contact history, relationship stage, referral activity, follow-up tasks, source quality, barriers, and next steps.
• Conduct in-person visits, virtual meetings, phone outreach, educational presentations, professional networking, and structured follow-up activities that build credibility and sustained partnerships.
• Re-engage dormant or inactive referral sources through targeted reactivation outreach and identify new referral-source opportunities through field observation and community intelligence.
• Prepare and maintain account plans for priority referral partners, a structured weekly/monthly outreach calendar, territory summaries, and pipeline reports for leadership review.
• Document outreach activity in HubSpot within Advocate's required timelines and maintain clean, current, and complete CRM records.
• Coordinate with Admissions & Assessment, Program, and Operations to understand referral flow, intake barriers, referral quality issues, conversion problems, and opportunities for source education.
• Ensure referral sources receive appropriate, compliant, professional follow-up on referral status within established organizational timelines.
• Represent Advocate professionally at provider meetings, community events, networking forums, outreach events, and professional association meetings.
• Support compliant distribution of approved outreach collateral and referral materials; provide leadership with field feedback, source FAQs, market intelligence, event opportunities, and messaging needs.
• Comply with HIPAA, applicable confidentiality standards, Medicaid program-integrity expectations, Advocate's Code of Conduct, anti-kickback/referral ethics requirements, and all approved communication/system-of-record workflows.

Required Qualifications

• Two (2) or more years of professional experience in healthcare business development, behavioral health outreach, provider relations, referral development, community partnerships, account management, or relationship-based professional sales.
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain professional relationships in a field-based setting.
• CRM experience required; HubSpot experience strongly preferred.
• Valid Maryland driver's license, reliable personal transportation, and ability to travel locally within the assigned service area.
• Ability to use Microsoft 365 applications, including Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint.
• Ability to represent Advocate professionally, ethically, and consistently in all community and referral-source settings.
• Ability to meet Advocate's background check, drug screening, employment verification, and onboarding/training requirements.

Education

Bachelor's degree preferred in business, marketing, communications, healthcare administration, psychology, social work, human services, or a related field. Directly relevant professional experience in behavioral health, human services, healthcare outreach, or referral development may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in behavioral health, mental health, PRP services, SUD programs, outpatient behavioral health, hospital discharge planning, Maryland Medicaid, or human services settings.
• Knowledge of Maryland's Public Behavioral Health System, Carelon / BH ASO, and community behavioral health referral pathways.
• Experience working with adults with serious mental illness or in community-based service settings.
• Experience with CARF-accredited or regulated healthcare organizations.
• Experience delivering educational presentations to referral sources, community partners, or healthcare providers.
• Familiarity with Alleva EHR at an awareness level and/or referral/admissions workflows in an EHR environment.
• Familiarity with basic Medicaid eligibility, referral-readiness, and authorization processes as they relate to referral and admission pathways.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary range: $60,000-$78,000 annually, based on experience, demonstrated referral development capability, healthcare or behavioral health business development experience, CRM discipline, and fit with Advocate's operating needs.
• Standard hiring range: $65,000-$70,000 annually, unless leadership approves a different placement within the approved range.
• Vehicle allowance: Eligible for a $300/month car allowance due to required field-based outreach, referral-source development, and community relationship-management responsibilities.
• Additional compensation: Eligible for a quarterly Business Development Performance Incentive after KPI, documentation, compliance, quality, CRM, and system-verification standards are met. Target annual incentive is $8,000-$12,000; maximum annual incentive is $20,000, subject to plan rules, verification, approval, payroll processing, and applicable law.
• Incentive compliance note: This incentive is not a commission for referrals. Referrals, admissions, or outreach activity that are not properly documented, compliant, and verifiable do not qualify for incentive payment.
• Benefits: The organization offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes paid time off (PTO), paid sick leave, and ten paid holidays annually. Employees are also eligible for a 401(k) retirement savings plan, as well as medical, dental, and vision insurance. In addition, the company provides employer-paid short-term disability coverage.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Advocate Support Services, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Advocate provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.