Executive Director of Patient Access & AI Transformation

University of Texas at Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School, seeks an Executive Director, Patient Access Center in Austin, TX. This leadership role directs enterprise patient access transformation across ambulatory clinics, specialty practices, diagnostic services, and hospital-based services, driving scalable AI-enabled solutions and digital-human workflows to improve access and revenue cycle performance.

You will partner with clinical and IT leaders, oversee scheduling, registration, insurance

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Finance, Health Information Management, or related field.
• 10 years of progressively responsible healthcare operations, patient access, revenue cycle, contact center, ambulatory operations, or healthcare administration experience.
• 6 years directing managers and supervisors, including workflow or technology transformation.

Responsibilities

• Aligns access transformation with enterprise growth, patient experience, and revenue cycle goals.
• Sets targets for time to care, referral conversion, capacity utilization, and responsiveness.
• Integrates scheduling, referrals, registration, contact centers, and digital self-service.
• Sets implementation owners, milestones, adoption targets, and measurable benefits.
• Pilots and scales proven access innovations with clinical, technology, and industry partners.
• Integrates centralized scheduling and digital self-scheduling across specialties and care settings.
• Automates referral intake, routing, provider matching, status tracking, and escalation.
• Partners with clinical leaders on scheduling standards, templates, and automated waitlists.
• Tracks appointment delays, referrals, call abandonment, digital adoption, and unused capacity.
• Coordinates phone, portal, web, and messaging access, with human support for complex needs.
• Automates registration, insurance verification, clearance, and authorization with Revenue Cycle.
• Implements digital intake and data validation to improve accuracy and reduce rework.
• Tracks data accuracy, authorization timeliness, clearance delays, and clean claim performance.
• Uses analytics and workflow redesign to prevent access-related denials and improve collections.
• Implements procedures supporting payer and regulatory compliance.
• Implements an access innovation roadmap integrating Epic, digital tools, automation, and AI.
• Deploys self-scheduling and AI-assisted voice and messaging tools with reliable handoffs to staff.
• Leads innovation pilots from design and testing to deployment; measures adoption and results.
• Validates predictive analytics for demand, capacity, staffing, and no-show prevention.
• Partners with IT, clinical informatics, and vendors on integration, data quality, and implementation.
• Establishes AI monitoring, human oversight, and escalation with clinical and compliance leaders.
• Develops leaders in access operations, digital implementation, analytics, and change management.
• Oversees Directors, Managers, Supervisors, and operational leaders.
• Trains teams in AI, automation, exception management, and support for complex patient needs.
• Redesigns staffing and roles as automation expands, aligning capacity with demand.
• Builds a culture of experimentation, accountability, service excellence, and sustained adoption.
• Aligns operating and capital budgets with access operations and the transformation roadmap.
• Measures staffing productivity, cost to serve, and capacity released through automation.
• Builds investment cases and verifies access, efficiency, experience, and financial gains.
• Manages vendors against integration, service, adoption, and measurable benefit requirements.
• Monitors departmental financial performance against targets.
• Ensures compliance with CMS, HIPAA, EMTALA, No Surprises Act, state regulations, and payer requirements.
• Maintains policies for digital access, automated workflows, AI use, and human escalation.
• Audits access and AI performance for errors, bias, and service failures; leads corrective action.
• Partners with Compliance, IT security, and clinical leaders on privacy and responsible AI use.
• Maintains human support and downtime workflows to mitigate operational and technology risks.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Finance, Health Information Management, or related field

Job description

The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School, seeks an Executive Director, Patient Access Center in Austin, TX. This leadership role directs enterprise patient access transformation across ambulatory clinics, specialty practices, diagnostic services, and hospital-based services, driving scalable AI-enabled solutions and digital-human workflows to improve access and revenue cycle performance.

You will partner with clinical and IT leaders, oversee scheduling, registration, insurance