Hospice Intake Operations Lead

VNS Health; New York (NY); On-site; USD 85,000 - 106,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Referral bonus opportunities

PTO 30+ days + 9 holidays

Health insurance including Medical, Df

Retirement with employer match

Wellness programs

FSAs for healthcare and dependent care

Tuition reimbursement

Career growth opportunities

Internal mobility and CEU credits

Job summary

VNS Health in New York, NY seeks a senior leader to manage the daily operations of Business Development Operations supporting patient intake, referral management, insurance verification, authorization and provider support. The role focuses on building high-performing teams, removing barriers to service delivery, and improving patient access to hospice care.

You will develop KPIs, drive process improvements, collaborate across departments, and ensure regulatory readiness while delivering an

Qualifications

• Minimum three years in healthcare operations leadership.
• Three+ years of supervisory experience.
• Experience with EMRs and Microsoft Office.
• Experience in hospice operations and admissions.
• Knowledge of Medicare Hospice Benefit regulations and payer processes.
• Strong collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Leads assigned Business Development Operations functions by establishing clear operational expectations, ensuring efficient service delivery, and driving accountability for departmental performance.
• Leads, coaches, and develops supervisors and operational staff by establishing performance expectations, fostering accountability, and supporting professional growth to build and sustain a high-performing team.
• Fosters a culture of urgency, accountability, collaboration, exceptional customer service, continuous improvement, and respect while modeling VNS Health's Core Values of Empathy, Integrity, and Agility.
• Plans and allocates staffing and operational resources to support workload demands, maintain service levels, and achieve departmental goals while optimizing operational efficiency.
• Performs responsibilities inherent in a managerial role, including interviewing, hiring, onboarding, performance management, disciplinary actions, succession planning, and compensation recommendations, in accordance with organizational policies and practices.
• Develops, monitors, and analyzes key performance indicators (KPIs), operational metrics, productivity measures, quality outcomes, and service levels to evaluate departmental performance, identify opportunities, and drive operational excellence.
• Leads process improvement initiatives by evaluating operational workflows and processes, identifying improvement opportunities, implementing sustainable solutions within the scope of responsibility, and recommending operational or policy changes that enhance efficiency, quality, and service delivery.
• Partners collaboratively with Business Development, Clinical Operations, Revenue Cycle, Information Technology, and other internal and external stakeholders to resolve operational challenges, improve service delivery, and support organizational objectives.
• Proactively monitors operational performance and service delivery, identifies emerging risks and operational issues, mobilizes appropriate resources, implements timely corrective actions, and escalates significant issues as needed to minimize operational disruption and maintain service levels.
• Promotes a culture of proactive problem-solving, accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement by empowering teams to identify opportunities, recommend solutions, and drive meaningful operational change.
• Supports organizational growth by advancing operational excellence, timely access to care, strong cross-functional collaboration, exceptional customer service, and an outstanding patient and referral source experience.
• Manages team productivity, workload distribution, and resource utilization to achieve operational performance goals while ensuring effective use of staffing resources within approved operational and budget expectations.
• Conducts routine quality monitoring of operational workflows and customer interactions to identify coaching opportunities, reinforce service standards, ensure exceptional customer service, and drive continuous improvement.
• Optimizes operational technologies, system interfaces, and workflow processes by proactively identifying issues, facilitating appropriate troubleshooting and escalation, and partnering with internal stakeholders to ensure timely resolution and operational continuity.
• Provides operational leadership for the end-to-end hospice referral and intake process, ensuring timely progression of referrals from receipt through scheduling of the hospice admission visit or final disposition while supporting timely patient access to hospice services.
• Leads the optimization of hospice intake workflows to ensure referrals are accurately documented, actively managed, and progressed efficiently while proactively identifying, escalating, and removing barriers that delay timely hospice admission.
• Partners closely with Clinical Admissions Operations to coordinate admission scheduling, balance referral volume and staffing resources, and facilitate timely, seamless transitions to hospice care.
• Ensures front-end insurance verification processes support timely hospice admission by establishing clear workflows, ensuring appropriate payer review, proactively facilitating escalation of complex payer and authorization requirements to the Insurance Verification & Authorization team, and minimizing delays in patient access.
• Builds and maintains collaborative relationships with Operations, Business Development, Revenue Cycle, referral sources, physicians, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities, durable medical equipment (DME) providers, ancillary service providers, patients, families, and other internal and external stakeholders to promote timely admissions and an exceptional customer experience.
• Ensures exceptional customer service throughout the referral and admission process by promoting timely communication, responsiveness, proactive problem-solving, and effective resolution of patient, family, referral source, and provider concerns.
• Conducts post-admission chart audits to ensure required consents, Certifications of Terminal Illness (CTIs), Explanation of Benefits (EOBs), and other required admission documentation are complete, accurate, appropriately documented, and compliant with regulatory and organizational standards.
• Monitors referral-to-admission performance, operational trends, and departmental metrics to identify opportunities for improvement, strengthen operational performance, and support sustained hospice census growth.
• Maintains knowledge of hospice regulations, Medicare Conditions of Participation, reimbursement requirements, industry best practices, and organizational policies to ensure regulatory readiness and operational excellence.
• Leads referral intake operations by ensuring all referrals received through fax, electronic referral sources, email, and other intake channels are timely identified, accurately established in the electronic medical record, and progressed efficiently to the appropriate next step in the referral process.
• Optimizes referral readiness by establishing workflows that proactively identify and resolve missing information, referral errors, and operational barriers, ensuring referrals are complete, accurate, and prepared for clinical review and timely patient access.
• Oversees provider operations, including maintenance of physician and facility databases, provider confirmation activities, and ongoing monitoring of sanctions, exclusions, licensure, and other provider compliance requirements to support regulatory compliance and operational efficiency.
• Leads operational processes supporting Face-to-Face documentation, provider communication, missing documentation requests, physician order follow-up, and other clinical support activities that facilitate timely care delivery and reimbursement readiness.
• Oversees operational coordination of partner services, including Visiting MD placement requests, ensuring timely communication and continuity of patient care.
• Leads customer service operations by fostering a proactive, solution-oriented approach to patient, caregiver, provider, and referral source inquiries, removing barriers whenever possible and delivering an exceptional customer experience.
• Develops and oversees Intake and Business Development Operations staffing schedules and workforce coverage to ensure appropriate operational support, continuity of service, and timely patient access.
• Monitors operational performance, workflow trends, and departmental metrics to identify opportunities for process improvement, strengthen operational effectiveness, and support organizational growth.
• Provides operational leadership for insurance verification and authorization functions supporting Home Care and Hospice services, ensuring accurate payer setup, timely financial clearance, and uninterrupted patient access to care.
• Oversees processes supporting insurance eligibility verification, coordination of benefits (COB), payer selection, and accurate documentation of coverage, financial responsibility, and payer information within the electronic medical record.
• Leads authorization operations, ensuring timely submission, tracking, follow-up, and management of initial, ongoing, revised, and pending authorizations while proactively addressing payer-related barriers that may delay care or reimbursement.
• Oversees insurance verification and financial clearance activities throughout the patient lifecycle, including initial referral, recertification, and scheduled re-verification processes to ensure continued coverage accuracy and timely identification of payer changes.
• Serves as the operational resource and subject matter expert for payer requirements, partnering with Home Care and Hospice Operations to resolve complex insurance and authorization issues, provide guidance on payer-specific requirements and facilitate timely escalation of operational challenges.
• Builds collaborative relationships with Intake, Clinical Operations, Business Development Operations, Revenue Cycle, referral sources, payers, and other internal and external stakeholders to promote seamless coordination, timely resolution of payer-related issues, reimbursement readiness, and an exceptional customer experience.
• Develops, monitors, and analyzes operational metrics related to insurance verification, authorization performance, financial clearance, and payer trends to identify opportunities for process improvement, strengthen operational performance, and support organizational goals.
• Maintains knowledge of Medicare, Medicaid, commercial, managed care, and other payer requirements, ensuring operational compliance with applicable regulations, contractual obligations, and organizational policies.
• Performs other duties and special projects as assigned.

Skills

Healthcare operations

Supervisory experience

EMR systems

Payer operations

Reimbursement knowledge

Microsoft Office

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration or Health Care Administration

Master's Degree preferred

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

VNS Health in New York, NY seeks a senior leader to manage the daily operations of Business Development Operations supporting patient intake, referral management, insurance verification, authorization and provider support. The role focuses on building high-performing teams, removing barriers to service delivery, and improving patient access to hospice care.

You will develop KPIs, drive process improvements, collaborate across departments, and ensure regulatory readiness while delivering an