Rural Health Advocacy Program Coordinator & Consumer Advocacy Specialist

Universities of Wisconsin•Madison, WI

3d•$75,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Center for Patient Partnerships (CPP) seeks a manager advocate for a new rural health insurance program. This position will coordinate the program, lead helpline intake, conduct one-on-one consumer education, and provide brief intervention advocacy services to qualifying clients to support access to health care. The efforts will assist rural Wisconsin consumers in understanding the systems and processes necessary to obtain coverage for their care. This position will oversee the day-to-day operations of the program, including program development and the implementation of policies and procedures for intake and triage. It will also assist with program quality assurance and reporting, track trends, and collaborate on system-level advocacy. The role involves supervising the implementation of intake and triage services, including graduate student project assistants and graduate and undergraduate students. The mission of this program is to support patients in using health insurance and coverage to gain timely, effective, and accessible health care in rural Wisconsin communities. CPP is an interdisciplinary, cross-campus center within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It operates as a medical-legal partnership and offers experiential learning opportunities for students. Services include health advocacy and community resource navigation. The center's staff is mission-focused, creative, collaborative, and dedicated to improving healthcare access. In addition to service and teaching, CPP researches patients' diverse lived experiences and challenges, and tests and evaluates interventions. Their model prioritizes systems change that advances access to timely, effective health care and promotes patients’ personal agency in navigating their health experiences. Services will provide a combination of brief intervention and intensive advocacy support to clients, aiming toward problem resolution or appropriate referral for every case. This position will have service volume expectations.

Requirements

Program management experience managing enterprise-level, customer-facing programs (e.g., call centers, help lines or enrollment service, etc.)
Experience working with and explaining regulatory, administrative, and/or enforcement proceedings related to health insurance claim disputes or consumer protection
Experience drafting training materials and/or workflow procedures for customer service functions, clearly outlining resources and step-by-step processes for effectively assisting customers
Resume and cover letter will be used to evaluate written communication skills (spelling, punctuation, organization, clarity, and attention to detail)
Eligibility to work in the United States on or before the effective date of the appointment

Nice To Haves

Experience navigating health, insurance or social service systems with clients who face substantial life challenges such as: financial crises, chronic or acute illness, legal concerns, or difficulties accessing or using public benefits, etc.
Experience with exporting and analyzing data from client databases and/or reporting data to stakeholders to demonstrate service targets and quality assurance
Demonstrated experience providing client-facing services within rural communities, including an understanding of the distinct needs and challenges associated with rural populations
Demonstrated experience in consumer advocacy and education in areas relevant to the position such as insurance, regulatory matters, or administrative law, particularly as it relates to health care

Responsibilities

Oversee the day-to-day operations of the program
Oversee telephone and web-based helpline intake and provide prompt, high quality, confidential brief intervention and intensive advocacy services until problem resolution, referral, or case discharge
Develop and implement operating policies and procedures for helpline intake and brief interventions including consumer education and advocacy services
Develop training materials, train, and supervise staff and students to provide high quality one-on-one education and advocacy services regarding health insurance and self-funded plans
Contribute to system change activities and compilation of recommendations regarding changes to policy, processes, contracts, administrative codes, and statutes based upon trend identification
Promote continuous improvement through problem identification, reporting, and participation in internal and external meetings and convenings; and implement and incorporate best practices and new learnings
Keep abreast of changing laws, regulations, and practices related to health coverage
Contribute to CPP broadly through participation in staff meetings, sharing of learnings, and office coverage
Other duties as assigned
Reviews recommendations for and provides input on the design and development of new outreach programs or services
Supervises the implementation of outreach-program-focused strategic planning initiatives and objectives
May exercise supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 FTE or equivalent employees
Monitors the unit or program budget and approves program expenditures
Determines outreach program needs and the personnel resource allocation plan
Develops and implements operating policies and procedures to promote the outreach program in alignment with the strategic plan