Scheduled Hours

40

Position Summary

The Director of Billing Operations is responsible for overseeing and leading all aspects of the professional fee billing cycle for the department. This position ensures accurate, timely, and compliant billing and collections, and plays a key leadership role in optimizing revenue cycle performance. The Director works closely with department leadership, faculty, clinical operations, compliance, and central finance teams to align billing operations with institutional goals, clinical workflows, and academic priorities.

Job Description

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership

• Provide strategic direction and operational leadership for all billing functions, including charge capture, coding, claims submission, accounts receivable management, and denials management.

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance billing efficiency, revenue realization, and patient satisfaction.

• Develop and maintain performance dashboards and KPIs for revenue cycle metrics.

• Direct activities between WashU Physicians Billing Service and Medical School Finance (journals, report requests, budgets, year-end close).

• Recommend and develop strategies to enhance revenue across the department’s clinical mission.

• Consult and advise senior management and institutional partners on significant revenue cycle or government payer issues.

Financial Oversight and Reporting

• Analyze revenue trends and identify areas of opportunity or concern.

• Participate in annual budgeting and forecasting processes related to professional billing revenue.

• Provide regular reporting to departmental leadership on billing performance, productivity, and collection rates.

• Evaluate processes across each functional area to ensure efficiency and optimal automation.

• Ensure monthly reconciliation of accounts, and prepare and distribute audits and reports as required.

Team Management and Development

• Supervise a team of billing managers, coders, charge entry specialists, and revenue analysts.

• Foster a culture of accountability, training, and professional development within the billing team.

• Collaborate with Human Resources and Finance to recruit, train, and retain top-tier billing professionals.

• Assist managers in setting and achieving quality and productivity targets.

Collaboration and Third-Party Vendor Management

• Serve as the primary departmental liaison with the external coding vendor to ensure timely, accurate, and compliant coding of clinical services.

• Establish and monitor performance expectations, turnaround times, and coding accuracy benchmarks.

• Facilitate regular meetings with the vendor to review audit results, resolve coding issues, and implement workflow improvements.

• Collaborate with compliance, IT, and clinical teams to ensure seamless data transmission, proper documentation standards, and alignment with institutional policies.

• Serve as the primary liaison between the department and central billing, compliance, and IT teams.

Compliance and Quality Assurance

• Develop and maintain policies and procedures related to payment posting, batching, reconciliations, purchasing, and related functions.

• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and institutional billing regulations and policies (e.g., CMS, HIPAA, OIG).

• Coordinate internal and external audits, ensuring accurate documentation and timely responses.

• Monitor and respond to payer policy changes and billing updates.

• Demonstrated ability to identify key revenue cycle or regulatory issues, develop actionable plans, and implement them to successful resolution.

Innovation and Special Projects

• Handle high-priority and ad-hoc projects as needed.

• Work collaboratively with the department’s informatics and analytics team to advance revenue cycle capabilities.

• Utilize Medical School and national resources to benchmark and innovate billing processes.

• Represent the Department/Medical School/University on committees and in institutional activities.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Working Conditions:
Job Location/Working Conditions

• Normal office environment
• Hybrid work arrangement

Physical Effort

• Typically sitting at desk or table
• Repetitive wrist, hand or finger movement

Equipment

• Off