Collections Representative Lead

Advocate Aurora Health candidates must live in these states:

• AL
• AK
• AR
• AZ
• DE
• FL
• GA
• IA
• ID
• IL*
• IN
• KS
• KY
• LA
• ME
• MI
• MO
• MS
• MT
• NC
• ND
• NE
• NH
• NM
• NV
• OH
• OK
• PA
• SC
• SD
• TN
• TX
• UT
• VA
• WI
• WV
• WY

Responsibilities

• Responsible for continued follow-up on all assigned accounts in order to obtain high cash flow until the account is either paid/resolved, the work standard complete and the account can be referred to a collection agency or is deemed uncollectable.
• Contacts patients, employer, insurance companies and government agencies either by telephone or mail in order to expedite payment.
• Establishes effective working relationship with patients, collection agencies, vendors and internal departments to effectively resolve account issues.
• Handles patient, internal department, third party agency, vendor requests/inquiries and complaints in regards to bad debt collection process.
• Resolves patient complaints concerning billing and collection functions using good human relations skills and sound credit procedures.
• Interprets insurance verification, billing, follow-up, collection and legal information provided for each patient account to accurately resolve patient questions and account issues.
• Effectively documents all accounts in regard to why the account has been opened, process documentation and actions taken to resolve outstanding issues.
• Handles the accounting of settlement offers, vendor remits, and cash posting issues related to bad debt accounts.
• Responsible for learning, understanding, and performing actions in all patient billing systems, both past and present, to assure proper handling of all bad debt accounts.
• Maintains the lowest possible ratio of bad debt expense write-off by employing good collection methods.
• Maintains and reconciles records of placements to third party agencies.
• Reconciles differences between bad debt balances and third party records.
• Watches for trends in agency or patient billing issues and alerts management.
• Provides guidance and serves as a resource person for personnel.
• Assists teams with more complex issues, works with employees to resolve problems, and provides necessary training.
• Distributes and monitors daily work, assists management with employee guidance, and provides ongoing feedback on performance.

Requirements

• Licensure, Registration, And/or Certification Required: None Required.
• Education Required: High School Graduate.
• Experience Required: Typically requires 5 years of experience in insurance processing, collections, customer service or legal administration.
• Physical Requirements: Must be able to sit the majority of the workday; must be available to travel between sites as needed; occasionally lifts up to 10 lbs. when moving/lifting manuals and binders; exposed to a normal office environment; operates all equipment necessary to perform the job.

Skills

• Demonstrated to work with complex billing issues in a healthcare environment.
• A broad and comprehensive knowledge base of accounting or credit/collection fundamentals and/or a broad, comprehensive knowledge base and understanding of department-specific billing, cash and insurance follow-up procedures required.
• Demonstrated proficiency in word-processing and