Behavioral Health Patient Placement Specialist

Beth Israel Lahey Health

4d•$44,928 - $60,466•Onsite

About The Position

The Behavioral Health Patient Placement Specialist is a key clinical member of the BILH Behavioral Health Transfer Center, supporting centralized coordination, review, authorization, and placement of patients who require inpatient behavioral health services across the health system. This office-based role conducts clinical reviews of referrals, facilitates admission decisions, coordinates placement, obtains payer authorizations, and escalates clinical concerns to appropriate leadership and medical staff. The specialist serves as a clinical and operational liaison, helping match patients with appropriate levels of care while supporting timely access, regulatory compliance, and patient outcomes. The role works collaboratively with inpatient behavioral health units, emergency departments, referring hospitals, providers, insurers, and community partners. It helps optimize system-wide bed capacity, facilitate patient transitions, and advance operational excellence throughout the behavioral health continuum. The position also supports quality improvement, workflow development, data collection, and compliance with applicable regulatory and payer requirements. The role requires a master’s degree in a relevant behavioral health or healthcare-related field and at least two years of experience in behavioral health or a related clinical setting. It requires knowledge of behavioral health diagnoses, admission criteria, levels of care, risk assessment, medical comorbidities, medical necessity criteria, and payer authorization processes. Proficiency with Microsoft Office and electronic medical record systems is required; Epic experience is preferred.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Nursing, Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, Healthcare Administration, or another behavioral health- or healthcare-related field.
At least two years of experience in behavioral health, psychiatric services, care coordination, case management, utilization management, transfer center operations, patient placement, emergency psychiatry, or a related clinical setting.
Knowledge of behavioral health diagnoses, psychiatric admission criteria, level-of-care determinations, risk assessment, and behavioral health treatment systems.
Understanding of medical comorbidities and their impact on behavioral health treatment planning and placement decisions.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and electronic medical record systems.
Experience interpreting medical necessity criteria and working with managed care organizations and payer authorization processes.
Exceptional communication, critical thinking, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
Ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams and with external partners.
Strong commitment to patient-centered care, operational excellence, and continuous process improvement.
Ability to make decisions guided by general instructions and practices, interpret situations, and recommend solutions to moderately complex problems.
Ability to analyze varied problems using observation, knowledge, skills, and general precedents.
Ability to follow procedures, organize work and priorities within general guidelines, and seek assistance in difficult or unpredictable situations.
Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in written English with internal and external customers.
Ability to comprehend and converse in English with medical center staff, patients, families, and external customers.
Working knowledge of standard concepts, practices, procedures, and policies, with the ability to apply them in varied situations.
Ability to work collaboratively in small teams, offer ideas, identify issues, and respect team members.
Ability to provide professional, respectful, service-oriented customer service using active listening and problem-solving, and to remain calm in stressful situations.
Ability to maintain close attention to detail, adapt to varied daily work, use independent judgment, and manage priorities.
Ability to perform sedentary work, including sitting most of the time, occasional walking and standing, and occasionally carrying, lifting, pushing, or pulling up to 10 pounds.

Nice To Haves

Epic experience.

Responsibilities

Review electronic medical records, referral documentation, psychiatric evaluations, and supporting clinical information to assess appropriateness for inpatient behavioral health admission.
Apply admission, exclusion, and level-of-care criteria to determine placement options, escalating cases requiring physician, psychiatric, or leadership review.
Assess patient acuity, treatment needs, medical and psychiatric complexity, and level-of-care requirements to facilitate appropriate placement decisions.
Coordinate admissions for accepted patients and support timely, efficient placement across behavioral health services.
Obtain clinical information from referring hospitals, emergency departments, community providers, and other referral sources, and coordinate patient transitions.
Lead and participate in quality improvement initiatives to improve access, placement efficiency, patient flow, and care coordination.
Serve as a central resource and liaison for behavioral health placement inquiries from internal and external stakeholders.
Identify complex, high-risk, or clinically concerning cases and escalate concerns to designated clinical leaders, including the Director of Behavioral Health Admissions, the on-call physician or psychiatrist, and nursing leadership.
Escalate concerns involving medical stability, patient safety, behavioral acuity, regulatory requirements, capacity limitations, or admission appropriateness.
Collaborate with physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing leaders, and interdisciplinary teams to address clinical barriers to admission and placement.
Communicate accurate and timely clinical information to support decision-making by relevant stakeholders.
Obtain, coordinate, and document prior authorizations and payer approvals for inpatient behavioral health admissions, transfers, and other indicated services.
Work with commercial insurers, managed care organizations, Medicaid, Medicare, and other payers to facilitate authorization decisions and timely access to care.
Communicate authorization status, limitations, and coverage determinations to internal clinical teams and relevant stakeholders.
Partner with behavioral health units to optimize bed utilization, patient flow, and capacity management.
Monitor patient placement activity and contribute to system-wide throughput and access goals.
Build and maintain collaborative relationships with referral sources, payers, physicians, clinical teams, hospital departments, and community partners.
Participate in developing, implementing, and improving workflows and operational processes that enhance access to behavioral health services.
Support data collection, reporting, and quality improvement related to behavioral health admissions, transfers, and placement.
Maintain knowledge of regulatory standards and ensure compliance with applicable requirements from DMH, DPH, The Joint Commission, CMS, commercial payers, and other governing agencies.
Promote quality, safety, patient-centered care, and continuous improvement throughout the admissions and transfer process.
Complete required competencies, certifications, and annual training, including CPR, risk management, and de-escalation training.
Perform additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.