Laboratory Billing Manager

Keystone Laboratory Inc. - Asheville, NC

An exciting and challenging opportunity awaits a highly qualified Billing Manager in one of the most beautiful areas in the country, Asheville, NC.

About Wolfe, Inc. /Keystone Laboratory Inc.

WOLFE, Inc. / Keystone Laboratory Inc., has been in the business of drug detection and workplace protection for nearly 30 years. We provide a comprehensive array of instant drug testing products and accessories, lab services, background screening, program management and training services for organizations of every size and type. In all we do, our number-one objective is to help all of our customers achieve a safe, drug-free workplace—and to do so better and more cost-effectively than anyone else.

About Asheville:

While Asheville retains the charm and friendliness of a medium-sized city, it boasts the amenities of a much larger city. Theater, live music, festivals, excellent restaurants, diverse populations, art galleries, cultural diversions and museums abound. Eclectic art galleries, micro-breweries and cozy cafes can be found at every turn. A food lover's paradise, culinary offerings range from traditional southern comfort food to four-star cuisine. Asheville is also home to America's largest privately-owned home, the Biltmore Estate, and the historic Grove Park Inn. Downtown Asheville is pedestrian-friendly and dog-friendly, and the city’s unique skyline of art-deco style buildings are surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Position Summary:

The Billing and Collections Manager is responsible for managing the Accounts Receivable Business Office teams accountable for the collection of reimbursement information and payment and manages the teams that most directly engage Keystone Lab customers to ensure positive bad debt and DSO performance. Specifically, the Billing and Collections Manager is accountable for the Registration, PEND, Billing Team, Denials Team, Cash Team, Call Center, Collections and Training Team. In addition, the Billing and Collections Manager supports the Operation as a whole by summarizing and reporting key performance metrics, refining processes, and through execution of functional plan initiatives. This position is responsible to effectively and efficiently utilize resources to meet production benchmarks and provide excellent customer service to resolve customer issues preventing the collection of accounts receivable. The Billing and Collections Manager must manage to the annual objectives set for all of Accounts Receivable Business Office, as well as any objectives for the Billing and Collections Team or the manager, personally.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage the registration and PEND team operations maintaining appropriate inventory and quality benchmarks.

• Manage the ARBO call center to meet goals of average answer rate, average answer speed, and average talk time.

• Ensure excellent customer service in both teams with a focus on the development of a consistent high-quality service level.

• Manage the billing and collection of patient and client accounts receivable to ensure the attainment of cash collection and bad debt goals with adherence of internal and external collections efforts to all fair and ethical collection techniques, as regulated by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and North Carolina General Statute Chapter 75.

• Manage, mentor and develop team supervisors in department.

• Development, refinement, and reporting of operational metrics and KRIs.

• Reporting of operational status, as well as execution and reporting on operational initiatives and assigned functional plan initiatives.

• Manages the Q/A system for the ARBO department, external collection agencies, and supports financial reporting and audit process of the ARBO department. Supports responses to escalated customer service issues from BBB and other agencies.

• Manages the ARBO phone system attendant with regards to call management and to accommodate vacations, meetings, and unplanned closures.

• Maintains adherence to Keystone and ARBO communication plan, recognition plan and quality standards.

• Assists in the development of the annual budget for ARBO, as well as the management of the budget objectives.

• Assists in the analytical activities regarding billing and reimbursement performance.

• Provides direct support as to policy, procedure and process development and maintenance.

• Promote registration processes that lead to ethical and fair billing operations in full compliance with Medicare, Medicaid agreements, Blue Cross contract, or any other third-party payer contracts.

• Manages the ARBO phone system attendant with regards to call management and to accommodate vacations, meetings, and unplanned closures.

• Provide support to the Finance team with monthly reports of accounting transactions, as well as responding to the informational needs of the external auditors, reviewers, consultants, etc.

• Manages Denial Management team to maintain appropriate denial inventories, work special denial projects, follow up on no response claims, and refine denial processes to accommodate improved reimbursement.

• Manage the collection of third-party accounts receivable to ensure the attainment of cash collection, DSO, and bad debt goals.

• Implements efficient and effective denial processes that result in improved reimbursement.

• Development and implementation of SOPs at the payer and denial level.

• Implementation of appeal processes consistent with payer requirements and based on opportunity for payments.

• Works with local IT and with software vendor to implement correct and appropriate systematic denial and reimbursement processes.

• Manages coordination of third-party denial and no response processes between key constituencies to achieve consistent denial and third-party A/R performance.

• Develops tools that can be used across departments to support consistent denial and insurance collection practices.

• Works effectively with other ARBO Supervisors on standardizing denial resolution practices.

• Manages the development and implementation of policies and procedures to support consistent and effective department performance and ensure compliance with established policies and protocols, including compliance with regulatory and contractual obligations (i.e. Medicare regulations).

• Organize resources to ensure a high level of achievement and productivity. Implement objective department and individual productivity expectations to measure department and individual performance as well as maximize resources.

Other:

• Promotes a professional, efficient, quality driven customer service-oriented collections and reception operation.

• Coordinates training function and documentation for assigned teams with the Training Coordinator. Assures team members are adequately trained to fulfill their duties professionally and accurately.

• Promotes a spirit of team effort and involvement by all team members in the operations and decision making as it relates to the team’s responsibilities.

• Motivates staff and maintains a high level of staff morale, and a low level of employee turnover.

• Provides high level of leadership for group leader and all staff in the Billing and Collections Managers’ team in accordance with Keystone supervisory standards.

• Involvement in special teams. Groups and subgroups throughout the company dealing with quality and the improvement of interdepartmental operations and customer service.

• Works directly with the supervision of Keystone’s contracted external collection agencies, including the control of the transactions and accounting for those transactions to assure maximum efficiency and accountability by those agencies.

• Provides support as to researching and responding to external complaints, as needed.

• Provides support to the Finance team with monthly reports of accounting transactions, as well as responding to the informational needs of external auditors, reviewers, consultants, etc.

• Other necessary essential duties as deemed necessary by the C.O.O.

• Works as a member of the Leadership Team. Interfaces with Client Services, Lab, Med Ed., I.T., Sales team, and other ARBO teams routinely.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This job has direct supervisory responsibilities of the Billing and Collections Team including the Registration and PEND Team in the Accounts Receivable Business Office.

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Candidates must have the following skills and attributes: detail oriented type of individual with good organization skills; strong analytical skills for problem solving; process oriented problem solver; high level of desire for professionalism, quality and achievement, Strong customer service skills, written and verbal communications skill, and telephone skills; good managerial skills with strong personnel leadership skills; ability to successfully manage multiple tasks and projects, along with competing priorities; ethical and mature in nature and personality; and a positive attitude. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience:

This position requires a bachelor’s degree Related or management experience sufficient to allow waiver, Master’s Degree or other post graduate work desired. Candidates must have 5 years’ experience in management or supervisory level position within a business office environment, preferably within a Laboratory business office environment or other healthcare business environment.

Computer Skills:

To perform this job successfully candidates should have strong computer aptitude, including all standard Microsoft Office products. Candidate must have expert level capabilities with MS Word and Excel, as well as strong capabilities with MS PowerPoint and Windows based applications. Candidate should have a strong computer aptitude and be capable of quickly learning, utilizing, and innovating PC based applications.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. General office and administrative work environment requiring use of computer, phone, and general office equipment, call center.

Favorable Background Check and Passing Drug Test required for employment.