The Senior Manager, Patient Access & Scheduling Operations, serves as a key operational leader supporting the Director in building and managing a high-performing, regionalized patient access function. This role is responsible for the day-to-day execution of scheduling operations, team development, and process improvement initiatives across all regional service lines. The Senior Manager translates strategic direction into operational excellence, ensuring that patients experience seamless, timely, and compassionate access to care.
Essential Functions
Leadership & Department Management
- Support the Director in building and sustaining a high-performing patient access team capable of operating at scale across a regionalized structure.
- Foster a team culture grounded in accountability, service excellence, and continuous improvement.
- Serve as an escalation point for staff and operational issues, resolving concerns in alignment with organizational standards.
- Partner with the Director on recruiting strategies; assist in interviewing, onboarding, and training staff.
Operational Oversight
- Assist the Director in designing and implementing regionalized scheduling workflows, standard operating procedures, and staffing models.
- Collaborate to drive service levels, productivity metrics, and accuracy standards; identify and address deviations.
- Assist as liaison for project management for scheduling technology, EHR utilization, scheduling platforms, and telephony systems.
- Engage in day-to-day scheduling call center operations, including workforce management, queue monitoring, and real-time performance adjustments.
Quality Management and Continuous Improvement
- Design, oversee, and maintain full ownership of a scheduling quality assurance program — encompassing call monitoring, scheduling accuracy audits, and documentation reviews — to drive quality management, performance optimization, and continuous improvement.
- Facilitate improvement initiatives using frameworks such as DMAIC or Six Sigma to reduce inefficiencies, variation, and error rates in scheduling workflows.
- Champion continuous improvement initiatives with clear linkage to measurable outcomes, including conversion rate improvement, reduced time-to-schedule, and increased patient throughput.
- Prioritize improvement efforts based on impact to patient access, growth, and operational efficiency, not just process compliance.
- Analyze QA findings to identify trends, root causes, and systemic gaps; translate data into targeted coaching plans and process corrections.
- Partner with staff to ensure QA findings directly inform onboarding content, refresher training, and skills development programs.
Performance & Conversion Management
- Own end-to-end referral conversion performance, including referral intake, scheduling rate, speed-to-schedule, and downstream appointment conversion.
- The Sr Manager will serve as a key operational and performance leader, partnering with the Director to scale and optimize a regionalized patient access model
- Define, monitor, and improve key performance indicators (KPIs) related to access, including:
- Referral conversion rate
- Schedule rate
- Time to first appointment
- Call conversion rate
- Leakage and abandonment
- Develop and operationalize performance targets across teams, ensuring alignment with organizational growth and access goals.
- Partner with the Director to implement strategies that maximize patient access, visit utilization, and revenue capture through improved scheduling effectiveness.
- Identify friction points in the patient access journey and lead initiatives to reduce drop-off and improve conversion outcomes.
Patient Experience & Satisfaction
- Enforce customer service standards and communication protocols across the scheduling team bot directly and indirectly.
- Track patient satisfaction metrics and coordinate with the Director on action plans to address gaps.
- Ensure scheduling workflows reflect a patient-centered philosophy, minimizing friction and wait time at every step.
- Act as a champion for the patient voice within operational planning discussions.
Process Improvement & Compliance
- Use data, dashboards, and analytics to identify operational inefficiencies and support the Director in implementing solutions.
- Lead process standardization efforts across locations, ensuring consistent policy and workflow application.
- Monitor compliance with privacy regulations (HIPAA), payer requirements, and internal quality standards.
- Conduct regular audits of scheduling accuracy, documentation practices, and protocol adherence.
Performance Analytics & Visibility
- Design and deliver performance dashboards and reporting views for leadership, providing clear visibility into scheduling performance, conversion trends, and operational efficiency.
- Equip frontline leaders with tools, insights, and frameworks to actively manage performance and drive conversion outcomes.
- Establish and lead regular performance review cadences (daily/weekly/monthly) to coach managers on interpreting performance data and translating insights into daily execution.
- Partner with analytics and IT teams to enhance data infrastructure, reporting accuracy, and real-time visibility into scheduling operations.
- Serve as the primary owner of performance storytelling for the scheduling function, connecting operational metrics to business outcomes and championing a culture of performance accountability across all levels of the scheduling organization
Strategic Support & Development
- Contribute to the long-term strategy for patient access by providing operational insight, frontline data, and recommendations to the Director.
- Support evaluation and implementation of new technologies, staffing models, and service delivery approaches.
- Participate in innovation initiatives designed to improve patient access, operational efficiency, and revenue capture.
- Other duties and special projects as assigned