Financial Advocate

Cumberland Heights Foundation Inc•Nashville, TN

12d•Onsite

About The Position

The Financial Advisor supports Cumberland Heights’ mission of providing high-quality, cost-effective care to persons and families affected by chemical dependency. The organization’s treatment addresses the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of recovery in a safe, supportive, and healing environment grounded in professional excellence and Twelve Step principles. The position facilitates financial arrangements for admissions and discharge related to patients’ portions of accounts. It enforces the credit policy and establishes payment plans. The Financial Advisor works with patients, families, guarantors, and intake staff on self-pay admissions, payment questions, estimated costs, insurance criteria, and acceptable payment arrangements. The role also processes and records payments, applies insurance contract adjustments, handles financial assistance requests, and maintains confidentiality and accurate financial records. Scheduled after-hours rotation is required to prepare and communicate timely financial estimates for prospective patients.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED required.
Minimum of two years of collections or other accounts receivable experience.
Commitment to practice within professional codes of ethics.
Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite.
Ability to learn and use accounting or clinical software, including electronic medical records.
Excellent problem-solving and customer-service skills.
Ability to react productively to change.
Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to effectively speak, read, and write in English.
Ability to interact with clients and coworkers collaboratively and courteously.
Ability to de-escalate a person in crisis calmly and supportively, and to work calmly and professionally in stressful situations.
If recovering, two years of verifiable abstinence is required.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree preferred.
At least one year of retail banking or other financial experience preferred.
A second language, particularly Spanish, is a plus.
For recovering applicants, five years of verifiable abstinence preferred.
Active participation in a Twelve Step program preferred.

Responsibilities

Meet with patients and family members using effective communication and relationship-building skills.
Facilitate self-pay admissions and assist patients, families, and intake staff with payment questions.
Meet with patients and guarantors to collect patient cost-share amounts and create payment plans for estimated balances within guidelines.
Answer patients’ questions concerning insurance and self-pay criteria.
Help maintain a welcoming, safe, and healing environment for patients and families throughout the continuum of care.
Call patients to discuss estimated costs, establish acceptable payment arrangements, obtain prepayment, and/or gather information needed to receive payment from insurance or other sources.
Stay informed about payer trends and regulations to provide informed advice and financial estimates.
Recommend ways to improve the quality and delivery of services.
Use available resources to provide affordable options for patients seeking treatment.
Use electronic health records, payer websites, contracted allowable rates, coinsurance, deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses to estimate patient responsibility for services.
Follow best-practice standards for day-to-day follow-up and comply with company policies concerning financial resources.
Enforce the credit policy and ensure collection of in-house accounts.
Process credit-card, cash, check, and wire transactions and post them to the accounting system daily.
Process courtesy and scholarship form requests, obtain executive approval, and document approvals in patients’ billing accounts.
Facilitate transfers between programs.
Collect and accurately record payments.
Calculate insurance contract adjustments.
Ensure proper handling and distribution of company funds.
Maintain confidentiality of company and patient information.
Participate in a scheduled after-hours rotation to prepare and communicate timely financial estimates for prospective patients.
Perform other duties as assigned.