Onsite Physician Advisor

CHRISTUS Health; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

CHRISTUS Health is seeking a Physician Advisor who will report to the System Medical Director for Physician Advisory services and serve as a resource to utilization review, care management, and medical staff on medical necessity, level of care, patient progression, and denial management.

The leader will provide consultation on hospitalization appropriateness, continued stay, and resource utilization, while supporting regulatory compliance and CHRISTUS Health strategic priorities.

Qualifications

• MD or DO degree from an accredited medical school.
• 5 years of experience in the clinical setting.
• 2 years of experience in a physician advisor role or equivalent.
• 2 years of leadership and/or management experience.
• Board-certified in a clinical specialty.
• Board certification in HCQM (ABQMURP) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Conduct status reviews to assess medical necessity of hospitalizations and level of care.
• Perform peer-to-peer consults with payer medical directors to resolve denials.
• Support compliance with state and federal regulations and CHRISTUS Health priorities.
• Collaborate with care management and healthcare teams on appropriate care progression.
• Participate in denial meetings to identify opportunities and reduce denials.
• Consult CDI team for query facilitation and transfer center for challenging reviews.
• Develop and present analysis of short-term projects to leadership.

Skills

CMS/insurance knowledge

Analytical skills

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Stakeholder relationship building

EMR/computer skills

Strategic alignment with CHRISTUS

Education

MD or DO

Board-certified in clinical specialty

Tools

EMR systems

Job description

Physician advisor reports to the System Medical Director for Physician Advisory services and serves as a resource to the utilization review and care management staff on medical necessity, level of care, patient care progression, and denial management. This physician leader will act as consultant and resource to medical staff regarding their decisions related to appropriateness of hospitalization, continued stay, and appropriate use of resources.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct status reviews, or secondary case reviews for individual patient cases or series of cases to assess medical necessity of hospitalizations or services, level of care determination and render a recommendation to attending provider.
• Conduct peer-to-peer consults, or coordinate discussions with the payer medical directors for patient cases that have been denied, to resolve medical necessity issues prior to a claim submission.
• Meets the health system's objectives for assuring quality patient care and effective, efficient utilization of healthcare resources while also meeting regulatory requirements.
• Meets with care management and healthcare team members to discuss elective cases and make recommendations related to appropriate level of care and care progression.
• Participate in case denial meetings to identify opportunities and decrease inappropriate denials
• Interacts with medical staff members and payer medical directors to discuss the needs of patients, access to care and alternative levels of care.
• Acts as consultant and resource to the CDI team for query facilitation.
• Acts as consultant and resource to the transfer center team for challenging case reviews
• Creates and presents analysis of short-term projects to explain claims and areas of opportunity to leadership and other associates
• Act as educated to different levels of staffing and ongoing basis
• Assist the System Medical Director for Physician Advisor services in achieving other goals like reducing avoidable length of stay, improve throughput and ensure responsible stewardship of clinical resources
• Supports compliance with all state and federal regulations

Required Knowledge and Skills:

• Knowledge of CMS/commercial insurance rules and regulations regarding medical necessity and appropriate use of resources
• Strong organizational skills with attention to detail
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Effective verbal and written communication skills
• Proven capability to communicate on to develop positive relationships with medical staff, physicians, nurses, care managers and others
• Proficient technical skills to include electronic medical record and computer software skills
• Ability to understand, comply and advance CHRISTUS health strategic priorities, commitments, and values

Required Qualifications:

• MD or DO degree from an accredited medical school
• 5 years of experience in the clinical setting
• 2 years of experience in a physician advisor role or equivalent
• 2 years of experience in leadership and/or management roles
• Board-certified in a clinical specialty
• Board certification in HCQM (ABQAURP) preferred

Other Details:

Full time

Location - CHRISTUS Irving office

Willing to travel as needed

EEO is the law