Job Title: Central Intake Director
Department: Mental Health Outpatient Treatment and Rehabilitation Services Program
Reports To: VP of Clinical Operations and Strategic Initiatives
Location: Argus Community Headquarters
Job Summary:
The Central Intake Director leads Argus Community’s centralized referral and intake function. The position is accountable for rapid movement from referral to service, strong program census, and timely completion of intake, insurance verification, and pre-admission eligibility tasks. The Director manages staff, workflows, technology, and cross-department handoffs, including ensuring that required Medicaid, HRA/Public Assistance, or related applications for new referrals are initiated and submitted by the appropriate staff.
Primary Performance Metrics:
- Referral-to-Service Speed: time from referral to assessment, admission, or first service.
- Program Census: referral conversion and admissions that support strong census across programs.
- Referral Readiness: insurance verification, required documents, eligibility applications, and follow-up completed without avoidable delay.
Duties include, but are not limited to the following:
- Leads and supervises Central Intake operations and establishes standards for response time, referral ownership, follow-up, and escalation.
- Ensures referrals are promptly reviewed, routed to the appropriate program, and actively followed through assessment, admission, service, or other disposition.
- Monitors referral volume, waitlists, aging referrals, referral-to-service time, conversion rates, and program census; intervenes when cases stall.
- Works with Program Directors and leadership to align referral flow with available capacity and census needs while maintaining program eligibility requirements.
- Develops and manages standardized workflows and clear handoffs among Intake, programs, Billing, Entitlements, and clinical reviewers.
- Ensures insurance eligibility is checked early and that inactive Medicaid, no coverage, or payer issues are promptly referred to Billing and/or Entitlements.
- Oversees collection of identification, insurance information, and documents needed for Medicaid, HRA/Public Assistance, recertification, or related eligibility work.
- Ensures required eligibility applications are initiated and submitted by responsible staff and that outstanding items have a documented owner and follow-up date.
- Manages effective use of the EMR/EHR, referral tracking tools, electronic forms, dashboards, and workflow technology; improves and automates processes where appropriate.
- Trains intake staff on program routing, customer service, documentation, systems, insurance/eligibility workflow, and escalation procedures.
Essential Functions:
- Must be able to travel independently between Argus Community program locations as needed.
- Must be able to work for extended periods using a computer, telephone, EMR/EHR, and other electronic systems.
- Must be able to manage multiple priorities and time-sensitive referrals in a high-volume environment.
- Must enforce and comply with agency policies and procedures; regular attendance and scheduling flexibility are required.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree preferred; significant relevant experience may be considered in lieu of degree requirements.
- Minimum of three (3) years of progressively responsible experience in behavioral health, health care, social services, intake/admissions, revenue cycle, entitlements, or a related setting; supervisory experience preferred.
- Excellent technology skills, including strong proficiency with EMR/EHR systems, Microsoft 365, spreadsheets, electronic forms, and workflow/tracking systems.
- Demonstrated ability to manage high-volume workflows, use data to identify bottlenecks, and hold staff and partner departments accountable to turnaround expectations.
- Working knowledge of Medicaid and managed care eligibility processes; familiarity with HRA/Public Assistance and related benefits preferred.
- Strong organizational, communication, analytical, follow-up, and problem-solving skills.
