Job Overview
We are seeking an experienced, highly organized, and operationally focused Behavioral Health Billing Manager (Independent Contractor) to oversee all aspects of billing and revenue cycle operations across multiple behavioral health organizations and levels of care, including Detox (DTX), Residential Treatment (RTC), Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP), Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP), and Outpatient (OP) services.
This leadership role is responsible for the oversight of the entire revenue cycle, including insurance verification support, charge entry, claims submission, payment posting, accounts receivable (A/R), denial management, appeals, reimbursement optimization, payer communication, credentialing oversight, compliance, reporting, and billing team leadership. The Billing Manager will collaborate closely with Utilization Review, Admissions, Clinical Operations, Credentialing, and Executive Leadership to maximize reimbursement, reduce denials, improve cash flow, and ensure compliant billing operations.
The ideal candidate possesses extensive behavioral health billing experience, strong commercial insurance knowledge, exceptional analytical and organizational skills, and the ability to independently manage high-volume billing operations while leading a high-performing remote team.
This position requires significant experience in behavioral health billing and revenue cycle management. Applications without direct behavioral health billing experience will not be considered.
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of behavioral health medical billing and revenue cycle management experience
- 2+ years of billing leadership or management experience preferred
- Extensive experience billing behavioral health services across Detox, Residential, PHP, IOP, and Outpatient levels of care
- Strong knowledge of commercial insurance billing, reimbursement methodologies, and behavioral health payer requirements
- Experience managing both in-network and out-of-network behavioral health billing
- Experience working with commercial payers including Aetna, Cigna, BCBS, Anthem, Optum, UHC, Humana, Tricare, and other managed care organizations
- Strong understanding of CPT, HCPCS, ICD-10-CM diagnosis coding, modifiers, place of service requirements, and behavioral health billing guidelines
- Experience with HCFA-1500 and UB-04 claim forms
- Extensive experience with claims submission, payment posting, accounts receivable management, denial management, appeals, and collections
- Experience reviewing Explanation of Benefits (EOBs), Electronic Remittance Advice (ERAs), and contractual reimbursement
- Experience identifying underpayments and appealing reimbursement discrepancies
- Familiarity with provider credentialing, payer enrollment, and contract implementation
- Strong knowledge of HIPAA, payer compliance requirements, and behavioral health billing regulations
- Advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency
- Experience using behavioral health EMRs, practice management systems, and clearinghouses
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving abilities
- Ability to independently prioritize competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment
Core ResponsibilitiesRevenue Cycle Management
- Oversee all day-to-day billing department operations across multiple behavioral health organizations
- Manage full-cycle revenue cycle operations from claim creation through final payment resolution
- Ensure timely and accurate charge entry, coding review, claim submission, payment posting, and collections
- Monitor clean claim submission rates and implement strategies to improve first-pass acceptance
- Oversee electronic claim submission through multiple clearinghouses and practice management systems
- Review claim edits, rejections, and work queues to ensure timely correction and resubmission
- Maintain timely filing compliance across all payers
- Monitor reimbursement trends and implement corrective action plans
- Ensure accurate contractual reimbursement and identify underpayments
- Review and approve billing adjustments, refunds, and write-offs
- Collaborate with Utilization Review to resolve authorization-related billing barriers
- Coordinate implementation of negotiated reimbursement rates and Single Case Agreements (SCAs)
- Support onboarding of new facilities, providers, and billing workflows
- Develop and maintain revenue cycle Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
Accounts Receivable & Denial Management
- Oversee A/R follow-up and collections efforts
- Monitor aging reports and prioritize high-value outstanding accounts
- Track, document, and trend claim denials
- Develop action plans to reduce recurring denials
- Manage insurance appeals, reconsiderations, and payment disputes
- Research payer policies and reimbursement methodologies
- Identify root causes of billing errors and implement process improvements
- Escalate complex reimbursement issues with payers as needed
- Negotiate reimbursement issues with commercial insurance carriers when appropriate
- Monitor appeal success rates and collection performance
Billing Compliance & Quality Assurance
- Ensure compliance with HIPAA, payer policies, and behavioral health billing regulations
- Audit claims, coding, payment posting, and billing documentation for accuracy and completeness
- Monitor compliance with ICD-10, CPT, HCPCS, modifier, and coding updates
- Maintain coding and billing resources for the department
- Stay current with insurance carrier policy changes and regulatory updates
- Attend educational webinars and training related to behavioral health reimbursement
- Assist with internal audits, payer audits, and documentation requests
- Collaborate with leadership to maintain audit readiness
Leadership & Team Management
- Provide leadership, mentoring, and operational oversight for the billing department
- Recruit, train, onboard, and develop billing staff
- Conduct regular team meetings and individual coaching sessions
- Establish productivity expectations and quality metrics
- Monitor employee performance and accountability
- Foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented team culture
- Serve as the department subject matter expert for behavioral health billing
- Support cross-training and professional development
- Collaborate with executive leadership on departmental strategy and continuous improvement initiatives
Reporting & Revenue Analytics
- Monitor departmental Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Analyze accounts receivable aging and reimbursement performance
- Track denial trends and recovery metrics
- Prepare operational reports for executive leadership
- Analyze payer performance and reimbursement trends
- Identify opportunities to improve cash flow and revenue capture
- Assist with financial forecasting and month-end reporting
- Develop performance dashboards and revenue cycle metrics
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Collaborate with Utilization Review, Admissions, Clinical, Credentialing, Finance, and Executive Leadership
- Assist with implementation of new billing processes and systems
- Support credentialing and payer enrollment activities
- Coordinate with software vendors regarding billing system functionality
- Serve as the billing liaison for facility leadership and external clients
Leadership Focus Areas
- Revenue Cycle Optimization
- Billing Operations
- Accounts Receivable Management
- Claims Resolution
- Denial Prevention
- Appeals & Reimbursement Recovery
- Cash Flow Improvement
- Billing Compliance
- Operational Efficiency
- KPI Monitoring
- Team Accountability
- Process Improvement
- Client & Facility Support
What We're Looking For
- Strong operational leadership and organizational skills
- Extensive behavioral health revenue cycle expertise
- A highly structured and proactive approach to billing operations
- Experience managing high-volume behavioral health billing across multiple facilities
- Strong understanding of commercial insurance reimbursement methodologies
- Exceptional analytical and financial problem-solving skills
- Excellent negotiation skills with insurance carriers
- Ability to identify operational inefficiencies and implement scalable solutions
- Strong communication and relationship-building abilities
- Ability to lead high-performing remote teams with minimal oversight
- A solutions-oriented mindset focused on accountability, efficiency, quality, and measurable financial outcomes
Schedule
- Full-time availability during standard business hours required
- Consistent weekday availability required
- Ability to attend scheduled leadership, client, and team meetings
Compensation
Compensation is commensurate with experience and qualifications.
Preferred Education
- Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field preferred
- Equivalent combination of education and relevant behavioral health billing experience will be considered
- Certified Professional Biller (CPB) preferred
- Certified Professional Coder (CPC) preferred
Experience Required
- Behavioral Health Billing: 5+ years required
- Revenue Cycle Management: 5+ years required
- Commercial Insurance Billing: 5+ years required
- Accounts Receivable Management: 5+ years required
- Denial Management & Appeals: 5+ years required
- Billing Leadership or Management: 2+ years preferred
Preferred Systems Experience
- Kipu
- CollaborateMD (CMD)
- Availity
- Office Ally
- Google Suite
- Microsoft Excel (Advanced)
Work Location
Remote
Job Type
Independent Contractor
Why Join Us?
This position is instrumental in supporting the financial health and long-term success of behavioral health organizations by optimizing reimbursement, strengthening revenue cycle operations, and improving overall financial performance. As our Behavioral Health Billing Manager, you will have the opportunity to build scalable processes, lead a high-performing team, collaborate closely with executive leadership, and drive measurable improvements in billing efficiency, collections, compliance, and operational excellence across multiple facilities.
Pay: $56,609.16 - $68,174.48 per year
Application Question(s):
- Approximately how many claims or active patient accounts have you managed at one time?
- Describe your experience managing behavioral health billing across multiple levels of care (Detox, RTC, PHP, IOP, and Outpatient).
- What strategies have you implemented to reduce denials and improve collections?
- Describe your experience with out-of-network billing and Single Case Agreements (SCAs).
- How do you prioritize and manage aging accounts receivable?
- Which behavioral health EMRs, practice management systems, and clearinghouses have you used?
- Which commercial insurance companies have you billed most frequently?
- Describe your experience identifying and appealing underpaid claims.
- Have you supervised or managed a behavioral health billing or revenue cycle team? If so, how many employees did you oversee?
- Describe a revenue cycle process improvement initiative you implemented and the measurable results it achieved.
Work Location: Remote
