Associate, Managed Care

Fulcrum Health Partners; Nashville (TN); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Fulcrum Health Partners in Nashville, TN, seeks an Associate to own workstreams and lead payer negotiation analytics, rate positions, and contract recommendations. You will collaborate directly with client leadership to convert analysis into signed agreements with stronger economics.

You will manage multiple engagements, deliver client-ready analyses, and mentor junior staff while advancing in a growing firm focused on provider reimbursement and healthcare consulting.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in managed care, payer contracting, provider reimbursement, healthcare finance, or healthcare consulting.
• Demonstrated ownership of reimbursement models, rate benchmarking, and fee schedule analysis.
• Working command of commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid reimbursement methodologies across fee-for-service, case rate, per diem, capitation, and value-based arrangements.
• Experience reading and interpreting managed care contract language and translating it into financial impact.
• Advanced Excel and strong client-deliverable skills in PowerPoint.
• Client-ready written and verbal communication; comfortable presenting findings to client leadership.
• Ability to manage concurrent workstreams and deadlines independently.
• Located in or willing to relocate to the Nashville, TN area and work onsite two to three days per week.

Responsibilities

• Engagement Delivery
• Own defined workstreams across managed care engagements, ensuring high-quality, on-time delivery against client objectives.
• Direct payer contract analysis, rate benchmarking, reimbursement modeling, and fee schedule evaluation.
• Structure the analytical approach for new engagements — determine what needs to be proven and how.
• Manage timelines, dependencies, and deliverables across multiple concurrent clients.
• Payer Contract & Reimbursement Analysis
• Analyze commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid contracts to quantify financial impact and prioritize renegotiation targets.
• Interpret reimbursement methodologies — fee-for-service, case rate, per diem, capitation, bundled, and value-based — and their financial and operational implications.
• Identify underpayment, language risk, and escalator and term provisions that erode client economics.
• Review and pressure-test analyst work product before it reaches senior team members or clients.
• Develop payer-by-payer rate positioning, negotiation strategy, and walk-away analysis grounded in market benchmarks and client leverage.
• Draft rate proposals, counter-proposals, and contract language positions for senior review.
• Participate directly in payer negotiations, with increasing ownership as experience builds.
• Client Communication & Firm Building
• Serve as a day-to-day point of contact for client managed care and finance leadership.
• Produce and present client-ready analyses, presentations, and recommendations to executive audiences.
• Mentor Senior Analysts, reviewing work product and building the team's technical capability.
• Support business development through scoping, proposal content, and client presentations.

Skills

Managed care

Payer contracting

Provider reimbursement

Healthcare consulting

Advanced Excel

PowerPoint

Client communication

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, finance, healthcare administration, or related field

Tools

SQL

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

Fulcrum Health Partners|Nashville, TN (Hybrid — 2-3 days onsite)|Full-Time|Reports to the Director, Managed Care

Today's Challenges. Tomorrow's Solutions.

Experience: 3–5 years in managed care, payer contracting, provider reimbursement, or healthcare consulting.

Compensation: $90,000 – $115,000 per year, plus performance bonus.

ABOUT FULCRUM HEALTH PARTNERS

Fulcrum Health Partners is an advisory firm working at the intersection of provider reimbursement, payer contracting, and healthcare M&A — trusted by health systems, physician groups, and deal-side clients alike. A fulcrum is where a small, well-placed force moves a very large weight; that is our work — applying the right leverage at the right point in the system. We are growing quickly, and we are building the team that lets us take on more clients and more complex engagements without losing the precision our clients count on.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Associate owns workstreams. You will build and direct the analysis behind payer negotiation strategy, develop rate positions and contract recommendations, and work directly with client leadership to turn that analysis into signed agreements with better economics. If you already know managed care and you are ready for more ownership — of the analysis, of the client relationship, and of the outcome — this is that role.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

You have spent a few years inside managed care, payer contracting, provider reimbursement, or healthcare consulting, and you have owned analyses rather than just contributed to them. You can read a contract and tell someone what it is costing them. You are comfortable in front of client leadership, and you raise the quality of the work around you.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Engagement Delivery

• Own defined workstreams across managed care engagements, ensuring high-quality, on-time delivery against client objectives.
• Direct payer contract analysis, rate benchmarking, reimbursement modeling, and fee schedule evaluation.
• Structure the analytical approach for new engagements — determine what needs to be proven and how.
• Manage timelines, dependencies, and deliverables across multiple concurrent clients.

Payer Contract & Reimbursement Analysis

• Analyze commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid contracts to quantify financial impact and prioritize renegotiation targets.
• Interpret reimbursement methodologies — fee-for-service, case rate, per diem, capitation, bundled, and value-based — and their financial and operational implications.
• Identify underpayment, language risk, and escalator and term provisions that erode client economics.
• Review and pressure-test analyst work product before it reaches senior team members or clients.
• Develop payer-by-payer rate positioning, negotiation strategy, and walk-away analysis grounded in market benchmarks and client leverage.
• Draft rate proposals, counter-proposals, and contract language positions for senior review.
• Participate directly in payer negotiations, with increasing ownership as experience builds.

Client Communication & Firm Building

• Serve as a day-to-day point of contact for client managed care and finance leadership.
• Produce and present client-ready analyses, presentations, and recommendations to executive audiences.
• Mentor Senior Analysts, reviewing work product and building the team's technical capability.
• Support business development through scoping, proposal content, and client presentations.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING (REQUIRED)

• 3–5 years of experience in managed care, payer contracting, provider reimbursement, healthcare finance, or healthcare consulting.
• Demonstrated ownership of reimbursement models, rate benchmarking, and fee schedule analysis — not just contribution to them.
• Working command of commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid reimbursement methodologies across fee-for-service, case rate, per diem, capitation, and value-based arrangements.
• Experience reading and interpreting managed care contract language and translating it into financial impact.
• Advanced Excel and strong client-deliverable skills in PowerPoint.
• Client-ready written and verbal communication; comfortable presenting findings to client leadership.
• Ability to manage concurrent workstreams and deadlines independently.
• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, healthcare administration, or a related field.
• Located in or willing to relocate to the Nashville, TN area and work onsite two to three days per week.

PREFERRED

• Experience at a healthcare consulting, advisory, or professional-services firm.
• Direct participation in payer contract negotiations on either the provider or payer side.
• Hospital, health system, physician group, or ambulatory surgery center reimbursement experience.
• SQL, Power BI, Tableau, or comparable data analysis tooling.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

$90,000 – $115,000 per year, plus a performance-based bonus. [Benefits summary to be added — e.g., health/dental/vision, PTO, and retirement.]

LOCATION & TRAVEL

This is a hybrid position based in Nashville, Tennessee, with two to three days per week onsite and the balance worked remotely. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. Client travel — roughly once or twice per month — may be required for negotiations, client meetings, team offsites, or industry events.

Fulcrum Health Partners is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law, and we provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process. To request an accommodation, contact [e-mail].