Head of Payer Relationships Strategy

Job description

HEAD OF PAYER RELATIONSHIPS STRATEGY Marvin Behavioral Health | Full-Time | Remote POSITION OVERVIEW The Head of Payer Relationships Strategy is a senior leader responsible for driving Marvin's payer strategy, contract performance, fee schedule management, and provider credentialing function. This role serves as the primary owner of all payer relationships and is the internal expert on how Marvin gets paid. While the Director provides strategic oversight of the broader revenue cycle operation and partners closely with the RCM Manager, their core focus is external: negotiating contracts, managing fee schedules, resolving complex payer issues, and ensuring every provider is credentialed and enrolled before a single claim is submitted. This is a player-coach role. The Head of Payer Relationships Strategy sets strategy and builds systems, but also personally engages payers when it matters most — picking up the phone on a wrongful denial, leading a contract renegotiation, or stepping in on a credentialing escalation. The ideal candidate is a seasoned RCM professional who has deep payer contracting expertise and takes pride in both strategic thinking and hands-on execution. This is a hybrid role with an expectation of 1-2 days per week in our LA , NYC or Denver Office, the remainder of the days remote work. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Payer Relations & Contract Management — Primary Focus - Own the full lifecycle of all payer contracts: negotiation, execution, renewal, and ongoing performance monitoring - Analyze payer fee schedules and reimbursement rates across all contracts; identify underpayment gaps and drive renegotiation to improve rates - Maintain and update the practice's chargemaster and fee schedules in the EHR/practice management system (AdvancedMD); ensure rates are accurate and current across all payers and service lines - Conduct annual fee schedule reviews in partnership with Finance to ensure contracted rates remain strategically aligned with the cost of care - Ensure compliance with payer policies, mental health parity laws, and applicable state and federal billing regulations - Serve as the primary point of contact for all payer representatives; maintain direct, active relationships and know who to call to get things done - Personally escalate and resolve complex payer disputes, wrongful denials, and underpayment issues that require direct payer intervention - Write and oversee escalated appeal letters; ensure appeals are clinically supported, accurate, and submitted within timely filing requirements - Monitor payer policy changes and communicate impacts to clinical, compliance, and billing teams proactively Fee Schedule Oversight - Own fee schedule management end-to-end: negotiation, loading, maintenance, and reconciliation - Ensure fee schedules are correctly loaded in AdvancedMD for every payer and updated promptly when contracts change - Audit reimbursements against contracted rates to identify systematic underpayments; initiate recovery and corrective action - Track fee schedule performance across payers and present findings and recommendations to executive leadership - Partner with Finance on chargemaster strategy to ensure billed charges reflect the appropriate markup above contracted rates Provider Credentialing & Enrollment - Oversee the credentialing function with a dedicated credentialing team member handling day-to-day execution; own the standards, timelines, and outcomes - Ensure all providers are credentialed and enrolled with relevant payers accurately and on time; hold the process to turnaround benchmarks that protect billing continuity - Maintain an accurate credentialing database tracking licensure, certifications, DEA, malpractice coverage, and all expirables; manage renewals proactively, never reactively - Coordinate credentialing timelines with recruiting, onboarding, and partner launch schedules to prevent credentialing gaps from becoming billing gaps - Personally step in on complex enrollment issues, payer rejections, or credentialing disputes that require escalation - Manage re-credentialing cycles and oversee responses to payer audits or corrective action requests related to provider enrollment Partner & Plan Launch Support - Own revenue readiness for every new partner or plan launch: ensure the right contracts are in place, providers are credentialed, and systems are configured before the first claim is submitted - Partner with Business Development, Operations, and Clinical teams during onboarding to map out the full billing setup: payer mix, covered services, fee schedules, authorization requirements, and billing rules - Lead system configuration in AdvancedMD for new payers and partners: fee schedule loading, payer enrollment linkage, and claim routing - Build and maintain a launch readiness checklist and timeline; flag risks early and drive cross-functional accountability to close gaps - Serve as the RCM subject matter expert in partner implementation conversations, translating payer and billing requirements into plain language for operational and clinical stakeholders RCM Oversight & Cross-Functional Leadership - Serve as a strategic partner to the RCM Manager, providing guidance on denial trends, payer-related billing issues, and revenue performance - Review RCM KPIs and dashboards regularly — clean claims rate, days in AR, denial rate, collection rate, net collection rate — and identify issues requiring payer-level intervention - Escalation point for billing team on complex denials, payer disputes, and contract interpretation questions - Collaborate with Clinical, Compliance, Legal, and Finance teams to align revenue cycle practices with organizational strategy and regulatory requirements - Serve as the internal subject matter expert on behavioral health reimbursement, payer policy, and revenue cycle best practices - Deliver regular reporting and strategic updates to the CEO and executive leadership on payer performance, contract outcomes, and revenue risks QUALIFICATIONS Required - Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Finance, Business, or related field - 7+ years of progressive RCM experience in healthcare, with at least 3 years in a leadership role - Deep, hands-on experience in behavioral health payer contracting, fee schedule management, and payer relations - Demonstrated track record of negotiating payer contracts and improving reimbursement rates - Direct ownership of provider credentialing and payer enrollment processes - Proficiency with EHR/practice management systems (AdvancedMD preferred) and clearinghouses - Strong command of CPT, HCPCS, and ICD-10 coding in a behavioral health context - Experience supporting partner or plan launches: contracts, credentialing, and system setup prior to go-live - Comfort engaging payers directly — including making calls, writing appeals, and attending payer meetings Preferred - Master's degree (MBA, MHA, or related) - CRCR, CHFP, CPAM, or equivalent RCM certification - Experience with multi-state telehealth or virtual-first behavioral health organizations - Experience with denial analytics platforms and RCM automation tools - Experience building or scaling payer relations functions in a high-growth or startup environment CORE COMPETENCIES Technical - Payer contract negotiation and lifecycle management - Fee schedule management and chargemaster strategy - Provider credentialing and payer enrollment - Behavioral health coding and compliance - Denial management and complex appeals - EHR/billing platform proficiency (AdvancedMD) - Financial reporting and KPI analysis Leadership & Soft Skills - Strategic thinking with hands-on execution instincts - Direct payer engagement and relationship management - Executive communication and reporting - Cross-functional collaboration and partnership - Process improvement and operational discipline - Team oversight and staff development - Attention to detail and data integrity WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE - Payer contracts are actively managed, regularly reviewed, and renegotiated when Marvin is being under-reimbursed - Fee schedules are accurate, current, and loaded correctly in AdvancedMD across all payers at all times - No provider goes unbilled due to a credentialing gap — enrollment is completed ahead of schedule, not behind it - Every new partner or plan launches with contracts in place, systems configured, and the billing team ready to submit clean claims from day one - Complex payer issues are resolved quickly because the right relationships exist and the Director is not afraid to use them - The RCM team has a reliable escalation partner and a clear strategic direction on payer matters