Director, Patient Access - Sacramento, CA

UnitedHealth Group•Sacramento, CA

9d•$91,700 - $163,700•Onsite

About The Position

Optum Insight is improving the flow of health data and information to create a more connected system. We remove friction and drive alignment between care providers and payers, and ultimately consumers. Our deep expertise in the industry and innovative technology empower us to help organizations reduce costs while improving risk management, quality and revenue growth. Ready to help us deliver results that improve lives? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together. Optum is seeking a Patient Access Director to lead hospital-based Patient Access and front-end revenue cycle operations at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, California. This leader will oversee Patient Access services supporting the Emergency Department, the main hospital, scheduled services and preregistration, and an outpatient surgery center located on the hospital campus. The facility operates around the clock and supports a significant volume of cardiac services and procedures. The Director will be responsible for operational performance, patient experience, workforce leadership, client relationships, revenue cycle outcomes, and continuous improvement. The role requires a visible, collaborative leader who can build accountability, strengthen team operations, support evening-shift leadership, and guide employees through operational change. This is a client-facing position that works closely with hospital administration, Optum Revenue Cycle leadership, facility-based leaders, and regional Patient Access partners.

Requirements

5+ years of supervisory, management, consulting, and/or project management experience within hospital Patient Access, Patient Registration, front-end Revenue Cycle Operations, physician practice operations, healthcare payer operations, revenue cycle vendor operations, or a closely related healthcare environment
Demonstrated experience in Patient Access, Revenue Cycle, and people leadership
Experience leading employees in a healthcare operations environment
Experience working in a hospital, health system, physician practice, healthcare payer, or revenue cycle organization
Proven ability to commute daily to the assigned facility in Sacramento, California
Proven ability and willingness to work onsite within a hospital client facility. Telecommuting is not available for this position
Proven ability to support a 24/7 healthcare operation, including schedule flexibility for meetings, training, operational needs, staffing gaps, and occasional weekend or after-hours coverage
Demonstrated ability to develop teams, manage change, improve operational performance, and address complex workforce or service challenges
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with hospital clients, business leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Certification through the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and/or the National Association of Healthcare Access Management (NAHAM)
Experience leading employees in a union-represented healthcare environment and knowledge of collective bargaining agreements
Experience leading supervisors, team leads, and frontline employees across multiple shifts
Experience improving registration accuracy, financial clearance, point-of-service collections, patient experience, or other front-end revenue cycle outcomes
Experience leading or participating in Patient Access technology implementations, contact center initiatives, or large operational transformation programs
Experience with major Patient Access, registration, scheduling, or revenue cycle technologies
Acute-care hospital Patient Access leadership experience, including Emergency Department operations
Client-facing healthcare operations leadership experience

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day Patient Access operations within a high-volume, acute-care hospital environment
Oversee Emergency Department registration, main hospital registration and check-in, scheduled-service preregistration, outpatient surgery registration, financial clearance, financial counseling, point-of-service collections, and patient service
Provide leadership within a 24/7 operation, including occasional after-hours, weekend, or on-call support based on staffing or operational needs
Directly lead approximately 14 to 16 employees, including AM and PM supervisors, while providing broader operational oversight to Patient Access representatives, specialists, team leads, and other managed employees
Develop, coach, and support leaders and frontline employees to strengthen engagement, accountability, service quality, and operational consistency
Provide focused leadership support to evening-shift operations and help establish effective, sustainable team practices
Oversee workforce planning, staffing, scheduling, productivity, quality monitoring, orientation, performance management, and employee development
Lead employees in an SEIU-represented environment and support operations in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement
Serve as a primary liaison between Optum and hospital leadership and build productive relationships with client administration, clinical leaders, Revenue Cycle partners, and other facility stakeholders
Monitor operational, financial, quality, and patient experience results, identifying and implementing opportunities for improvement
Drive performance related to registration accuracy, financial clearance, point-of-service collections, customer service, and applicable service-level agreements
Prepare and present operational reports, performance updates, status reports, and improvement plans to hospital and business leadership
Support regulatory requirements, audit follow-up, client standards, contractual commitments, and applicable policies
Lead change-management efforts associated with new processes, technologies, workflows, and organizational initiatives
Maintain facility-level budget awareness and support appropriate workforce and resource decisions
Perform other duties as assigned