VP, Patient Support Operations

Description

Department: Patient Support Center 

FLSA Classification: 

Exempt Travel: As required to support organizational needs 

The Vice President of Patient Support & Access provides strategic and operational leadership for Southeast Primary Care Partners’ centralized patient support, access, outreach, scheduling, clinical routing, medical-record coordination, and patient communication functions. This leader is responsible for creating an efficient, responsive, and patient-centered experience across telephone, text, portal, chat, email, fax, and other communication channels. The Vice President will improve access to care, patient satisfaction, employee engagement, operational performance, and financial results while supporting the organization’s growth and value-based care goals. The role also leads the responsible use of artificial intelligence, automation, workforce-management tools, and process-improvement methods to simplify work, improve service, and scale operations.

Requirements

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and execute an enterprise patient-support and access strategy aligned with organizational goals.
• Establish short- and long-term operational, financial, service, and performance objectives.
• Partner with executive, clinical, operational, and practice leaders to improve patient access and continuity of care.
• Develop scalable operating models to support growth, acquisitions, and new markets.
• Analyze performance trends and lead corrective and improvement initiatives.

Patient Access and Contact Center Operations

• Oversee inbound and outbound patient communication, scheduling, appointment confirmation, outreach, registration support, and service recovery.
• Ensure patients are connected to the appropriate provider, location, appointment type, and level of care.
• Improve appointment availability, schedule utilization, cancellation recovery, and no-show performance.
• Establish service standards for response time, call quality, scheduling accuracy, professionalism, and first-contact resolution.
• Lead call routing, queue management, callback, forecasting, staffing, and workforce-management processes.
• Ensure consistent workflows across telephone, text, portal, chat, email, fax, and mail.

Clinical Triage and Patient Safety

• Partner with clinical leadership to develop safe and consistent processes for routing patient symptoms and clinical questions.
• Ensure nonclinical staff appropriately escalate urgent or clinically sensitive concerns to licensed clinical personnel.
• Oversee centralized nurse-triage operations when assigned to the Patient Support Center.
• Monitor triage response times, escalation compliance, documentation quality, and closed-loop resolution.
• Ensure clinical judgment and medical advice remain with properly licensed personnel.

Artificial Intelligence and Technology

• Lead the responsible implementation of AI, automation, virtual agents, agent-assist tools, speech analytics, automated scheduling, and patient self-service solutions.
• Ensure technology improves the patient experience and provides access to a human team member when needed.
• Establish appropriate safeguards for privacy, security, accuracy, human oversight, bias, and escalation.
• Partner with Information Technology, Compliance, Legal, and Clinical Leadership to evaluate vendors, integrations, risks, and return on investment.
• Ensure AI is not used as a substitute for licensed clinical judgment.

Records and Care Coordination

• Oversee the request, receipt, transmission, tracking, and indexing of patient records through EMR systems, fax, mail, and secure electronic exchange.
• Ensure records are obtained accurately and timely for new-patient visits, referrals, care transitions, and quality initiatives.
• Improve workflows and reduce manual record-processing activities.
• Maintain appropriate authorization, privacy, documentation, and escalation standards.

Patient Experience and Quality

• Establish clear service expectations centered on empathy, professionalism, accuracy, and timely resolution.
• Develop service-recovery processes for complaints, scheduling errors, communication failures, and escalated concerns.
• Analyze patient feedback, surveys, complaints, call recordings, portal messages, and other experience data.
• Reduce unnecessary transfers, delays, repeat contacts, and unresolved patient concerns.
• Ensure communication practices support patients with differing language, accessibility, cultural, and health-literacy needs.
• Maintain quality-assurance, auditing, coaching, and corrective-action programs.

Performance and Process Improvement

Establish dashboards and performance scorecards for service, quality, access, productivity, financial performance, and employee engagement.

Monitor key measures, including:

•   Service level and speed to answer
•   Abandonment and callback rates
•   First-contact resolution
•   Scheduling accuracy and conversion
•   Appointment utilization and no-show rates
•   Outreach completion
•   Triage response time
•   Record-retrieval turnaround
•   Patient satisfaction
•   Quality and compliance scores
•   Employee productivity, engagement, and retention
•  Cost per contact
•  Use Lean, root-cause analysis, workflow redesign, automation, and standardization to improve efficiency.
• Balance productivity expectations with quality, patient safety, and service.

People Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop directors, managers, supervisors, nurses, quality staff, trainers, workforce-management staff, and patient-service representatives.
• Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and patient-centered service.
• Establish clear goals, performance expectations, career paths, succession plans, and development programs.
• Oversee recruitment, onboarding, training, coaching, recognition, engagement, and retention.
• Ensure staff receive ongoing training in customer service, scheduling, privacy, clinical escalation, difficult conversations, and technology.

Compliance and Financial Management

• Ensure compliance with HIPAA, HITECH, organizational policies, and applicable federal and state requirements.
• Protect patient information and maintain appropriate controls for communication, records, technology, and vendor access.
• Develop and manage departmental operating and capital budgets.
• Monitor staffing, labor costs, overtime, technology expenses, vendor performance, and operating efficiency.
• Develop business cases for technology, outsourcing, staffing, and process-improvement investments.
• Manage vendors and service-level agreements in partnership with Finance, Legal, Compliance, and Information Technology.

 QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Nursing, Operations Management, or a related field required.
• Master’s degree in a related field preferred.

Experience

• Ten or more years of progressive healthcare operations, patient-access, contact-center, patient-experience, or related experience.
• At least five years of senior leadership experience managing large, multi-layered teams.
• Demonstrated experience leading scheduling, outreach, centralized patient support, contact-center, clinical-routing, or similar healthcare operations.
• Experience supporting a multi-location healthcare organization.
• Proven success improving operational KPIs, service quality, employee engagement, and financial performance.
• Experience with workforce management, analytics, quality assurance, process improvement, automation, and vendor management.
• Familiarity with EMR, scheduling, telephone, CRM, portal, and contact-center technologies.
• Experience with Veradigm or eClinicalWorks preferred.
• Primary care, ambulatory care, medical group, or value-based care experience strongly preferred.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Strategic and operational leadership
• Strong patient-service orientation
• Large-team and change-management experience
• Strong analytical, financial, and problem-solving skills
• Knowledge of patient access, scheduling, clinical escalation, and medical-record workflows
• Understanding of HIPAA, privacy, security, and healthcare compliance
• Working knowledge of AI, automation, and digital patient-engagement tools
• Strong executive communication and collaboration skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-growing organization
• Sound judgment and discretion when handling sensitive matters

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to sit or stand for extended periods.
• Ability to operate computers, telephones, and standard office equipment.
• Ability to communicate and comprehend information verbally and in writing.
• Ability to analyze complex information and solve operational problems.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to occasionally lift up to 20 pounds.
• Ability to travel to organizational locations as needed.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Southeast Primary Care Partners is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

DISCLAIMER

This job description describes the general nature and level of work performed in this position. It is not intended to include every responsibility, duty, qualification, or working condition. Responsibilities may be modified based on organizational needs.