Assistant Director, Admissions (Salaried, Full-time)

Washington-Regional-Medical-Center; Fayetteville (AR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Washington Regional Medical Center in Northwest Arkansas seeks an Assistant Director of Admissions to lead patient access across the hospital, emergency department, ambulatory surgery center, and specialty admissions areas. The role emphasizes accurate registration, timely throughput, courteous service, and strong cross‑department collaboration.

The ideal candidate has a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration or related field, at least five years in hospital admissions with three years

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration or related field required.
• Five (5) years of progressive experience in hospital admissions, patient access, registration, or front-end revenue cycle operations.
• At least three (3) years of leadership experience.
• Experience overseeing multiple access points (inpatient, emergency, outpatient, surgical, specialty admissions).
• Knowledge of insurance verification, prior authorization, EMTALA, payer requirements, denial prevention, and patient access technology workflows.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational oversight for admissions and patient access across the main hospital, ED, LAB, ambulatory surgery center, and specialty admissions areas.
• Lead daily workflows for registration, point of service collections, and bed placement coordination.
• Partner with department leaders to improve patient flow, admission throughput, and communication across access points.
• Supervise, mentor, and develop admissions leaders and staff, including hiring, onboarding, scheduling, coaching, and performance management.
• Monitor KPIs such as registration accuracy, productivity, wait times, upfront collections, and denial prevention metrics.
• Collaborate with denials, billing, utilization review, and managed care to improve clean claim outcomes.
• Ensure compliance with federal/state/payer regulations and organizational policies (HIPAA, EMTALA, price transparency).
• Standardize workflows, policies, training, and quality assurance across admission areas; address specific operational needs.
• Serve as escalation resource for patient/physician/department concerns related to admissions and service recovery.
• Assist with budgeting, staffing plans, technology optimization, reporting, audits, and special projects to advance performance.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Process improvement

Strategic planning

Staff development

Education

Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration

Bachelor’s degree in business administration

Master’s degree preferred

Job description

Organization Overview, Mission, Vision, and ValuesOur mission is to improve the health of people in the communities we serve through compassionate, high-quality care, prevention, and wellness education. Washington Regional Medical System is a community-owned, locally governed, non-profit health care system located in Northwest Arkansas in the heart of Fayetteville, which is consistently ranked among the Best Places to live in the country. Our 425-bed medical center has been named the #1 hospital in Arkansas for five consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. We employ 3,200+ team members and serve the region with over 40 clinic locations, the region’s only Level II trauma center, and five Centers of Excellence - the Washington Regional J.B. Hunt Transport Services Neuroscience Institute; Washington Regional Walker Heart Institute; Washington Regional Women and Infants Center; Washington Regional Total Joint Center; and Washington Regional Pat Walker Center for Seniors.Position SummaryThe Assistant Director, Admissions reports to the Director, Patient Access & Denials and supports the Vice President of Revenue Cycle by providing leadership and operational oversight for admissions and patient access functions across the main hospital, emergency department, labor and delivery, ambulatory surgery center, and physicians’ specialty hospital admissions areas. This role is responsible for driving accurate, timely, and patient-centered registration and admission processes; optimizing front-end revenue cycle performance; supporting denial prevention efforts; and ensuring compliance with organizational, regulatory, and payer requirements.Essential Position ResponsibilitiesProvide operational oversight for admissions and patient access services across the main hospital, emergency department, labor and delivery, ambulatory surgery center, and physicians’ specialty admissions areas to ensure timely, accurate, and courteous service.Lead daily workflows for facility-based registration, point of service collections and bed placement coordination as applicable.Partners with department director, clinical, nursing, case management, and ancillary department leaders to improve patient flow, admission throughput, and communication across all access points.Supervise, mentor, and develop admissions leaders and staff, including hiring, onboarding, scheduling, productivity management, coaching, performance management, and employee engagement activities.Monitor and improve key performance indicators such as registration accuracy, productivity, wait times, upfront collections, insurance-related edits, and front-end denial prevention metrics.Collaborate with denials, billing, utilization review, and managed care teams to identify root causes of front-end denials and implement corrective actions that improve clean claim performance and reimbursement outcomes.Ensure compliance with federal, state, and payer regulations and organizational policies, including patient identity management, consent forms, Medicare and Medicaid requirements, EMTALA considerations, HIPAA, and price transparency or financial communication standards as applicable.Support standardization of workflows, policies, training, scripting, and quality assurance processes across all facility-based admissions areas while addressing service-line-specific operational needs.Serve as a resource for escalation of patient, physician, and departmental concerns related to admissions, registration, financial clearance, and service recovery.Assist with department budgeting, staffing plans, technology optimization, reporting, audits, and special projects that advance patient access performance and revenue cycle goals.Maintain visibility in operational areas, identify barriers in real time, and lead process improvement initiatives that enhance patient experience, employee accountability, and financial performance.QualificationsEducation: Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business administration, finance, or a related field required; master’s degree preferred.Licensure and Certifications: Professional certification in patient access or revenue cycle such as CHAM, CHAA, or CRCR preferred.Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of progressive experience in hospital admissions, patient access, registration, or front-end revenue cycle operations required, including at least three (3) years of leadership experience. Experience overseeing multiple access points such as inpatient, emergency, outpatient, surgical, and specialty admissions is strongly preferred. Knowledge of insurance verification, prior authorization, EMTALA, payer requirements, denial prevention, and patient access technology workflows required.Work Environment: This position will spend 50% of the time walking and/or standing while pushing, pulling, lifting, and/or carrying up to 50 lbs. This position will spend 50% of the time sitting while performing work in a standard office environment. This position will be exposed to communicable diseases, bodily fluids, and radiation. This position serves a cultural and linguistically diverse patient population.Notice: This job description is designed to provide an overview of the essential and principal duties and responsibilities of the position. The job description is not designed or intended to cover or set forth a comprehensive listing of all activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Washington Regional reserves the right in its absolute discretion to change duties, responsibilities or activities or assign new duties, responsibilities, or activities at any time with or without notice. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.