Hospital Patient Access Services Manager

Ventura County • Ventura, CA

8d • Onsite

About The Position

Under general direction, the Hospital Patient Access Services Manager serves as a key operational leader of the "front door" to the Ventura County Medical System. This role is directly responsible for the strategic design, day-to-day execution, and performance of all front-end registration, admitting, and scheduling functions across our hospital departments. Because this department represents the very first interaction a patient has with our health system, the Patient Access Services Manager is uniquely accountable for balancing sharp technical workflows with an exceptional, compassionate customer service standard that sets the tone for the entire patient experience. The ideal candidate is a high-impact revenue cycle "fixer" and an empathetic leader who understands that operational efficiency and high patient satisfaction go hand-in-hand. The ideal candidate is a proactive and results-oriented leader who looks beyond daily operations to continuously improve patient access processes. They will regularly audit and evaluate workflows, implement efficient front-end processes, maximize point-of-service collections, and aggressively drive down insurance eligibility denials while ensuring every patient receives a seamless, welcoming, and supportive check-in experience.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in healthcare administration, business administration, or a closely related field, AND Three (3) years of recent, progressive patient registration and insurance verification experience, with at least two (2) years of direct supervisory or management experience, preferably overseeing a decentralized team or multiple supervisors
• Excellent written communication skills must be demonstrated in the completion of the employment application and answers to the supplemental questionnaire
• Experience with patient access and billing systems
• Intermediate skill in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment and decision making

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in healthcare administration, business administration, or a closely related field
• Five (5) or more years of experience as a supervisor or above in a patient facing revenue cycle area
• Experience with compliance, policies, and directives issued by Medicare, Medicaid, Third Party Payors and others
• Experience with authorizing inpatient and outpatient services, and verification of eligibility
• Experience complying with medical staff by-laws, rules and regulations, and hospital and departmental policies and procedures
• Certifications from major healthcare associations are highly desired, including: CHAM (Certified Healthcare Access Manager) from the National Association of Healthcare Access Management
• CRCR (Certified Revenue Cycle Representative) from the Healthcare Financial Management Association

Responsibilities

• Directs and provides strategic leadership to the Patient Access teams across Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital.
• Actively manages and mentors a team of Patient Access Supervisors, ensuring clear accountability for frontline registrars, coordinators, and scheduling staff.
• Formulates, maps, and modernizes patient registration, admitting, and scheduling workflows to maximize front-end accuracy.
• Proactively identifies operational bottlenecks and drives process redesign to eliminate manual duplication, move tasks out of offline spreadsheets, and streamline patient throughput.
• Evaluates arrival-to-departure registration touchpoints to maintain an efficient and seamless check-in experience.
• Compiles, analyzes, and acts upon critical pre-cycle data and front-end metrics, including registration error rates, pre-authorization completion times, and eligibility denials.
• Utilizes system analytics to identify root causes of registration rejections and adjusts frontline workflows based on those insights.
• Serves as the executive champion for the organization's "front door", establishing a high-standard, compassionate customer service culture.
• Promotes a welcoming and supportive environment at all entry points and monitors patient satisfaction metrics to continuously improve the patient experience.
• Designs and implements comprehensive onboarding, customer service standards, and ongoing technical training programs for supervisors and frontline staff.
• Ensures registrars are proficient in patient communication, financial counseling, and technical system use.
• Manages the operational budget for all Patient Access units, monitors departmental expenditures, and strategically allocates staffing resources to match patient volume fluctuations across day, evening, and night shifts.
• Collaborates closely with the Hospital COO, Medical Directors, Nursing Leadership, and Ambulatory Care personnel, and Clinic Managers to align front-end access workflows with clinical operations.
• Escalates and resolves cross-departmental bottlenecks to ensure operational unity across the health system.
• Serves as the primary Health Care Agency representative for patient access functions, interfacing professionally with external regulatory bodies, County departments, executive leadership, and the public.
• Drives the strategic execution of point-of-service (POS) financial management, ensuring frontline teams successfully execute insurance verification, medical necessity screenings, and copay/deductible collections to meet established agency financial goals.
• Mandates the proper utilization of enterprise health records and eligibility systems (such as Cerner and Experian).
• Partners with IT and Informatics to eliminate manual overrides, enforce automated system error warnings, and leverage native work-queue technology to improve data integrity.
• Establishes clear, transparent communication channels for patients regarding the registration process, financial clearance expectations, and available financial assistance options.
• Directly addresses and resolves complex customer service or billing escalation issues.
• Standardizes, updates, and enforces department compliance with all federal, state, and industry regulations, including strict adherence to HIPAA patient privacy laws and EMTALA anti-dumping mandates across all emergency and acute admitting areas.
• Performs other duties as required.

Benefits

• Bilingual Incentive
• Educational Incentive
• Deferred Compensation: Eligible to participate in the County's 401(k) Shared Savings Plan and/or the Section 457 Plan.
• Health Plans: Full-time employees are afforded a flexible credit allowance for purchasing medical, dental, and/or vision insurance from a group of authorized plans.
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Pension Plan
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year which includes a scheduled floating holiday.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager