Job Details

Overview

Position Summary
The Customer Service Team Lead provides systemwide leadership and operational oversight for the Customer Service team supporting a multi-hospital and 100+ practice integrated healthcare system. The role ensures consistent, timely, and accurate handling of complex patient financial inquiries and account discrepancies, while driving performance standards that support the organization's revenue cycle goals. The Team Lead coordinates daily customer service operations, addresses escalated account issues, mentors staff, monitors quality and productivity, and ensures compliance with payer, regulatory, and organizational standards. The position plays a critical role in optimizing workflows, enhancing patient financial communication, and supporting AR, denials, cash acceleration, and service excellence across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Operational Oversight & Workflow Coordination
• Conduct daily assignment of workload including inbound calls, MyChart messages, financial counseling cases, billing inquiries, and customer service tickets.
• Ensure adherence to departmental service-level agreements (SLAs) such as:
• Average Speed to Answer (ASA)
• Abandonment Rate
• Call Quality & First Call Resolution (FCR)
• Response turnaround for billing inquiries and documentation requests
• Monitor call queues, dashboards, and worklists in real time (Epic, Cisco or other telephony systems).
• Identify trends in call volume, inquiry types, and bottlenecks; adjust staffing deployment accordingly.
• Serve as a point of contact for escalated patient issues, service recovery needs, and complex financial counseling situations.
• Staff Leadership, Coaching & Development
• Provide day-to-day leadership, mentoring, and role modeling for frontline representatives.
• Conduct side-by-side coaching, call monitoring, and real-time feedback.
• Support new hire onboarding, competency validation, cross-training, and ongoing skill development.
• Lead daily huddles focused on KPIs, workflows, quality assurance findings, and updates from Revenue Cycle leadership.
• Assist with performance evaluations by providing data, documentation, coaching logs, and quality outcomes.
• Reinforce ECU Health values, Revenue Cycle expectations, accountability standards, and staff engagement initiatives.
• Quality Assurance & Accuracy Controls
• Audit call documentation, billing inquiries, patient correspondences, and Epic account notes for accuracy and completeness.
• Ensure compliance with HIPAA, regulatory bodies, payer contract rules, and internal policies.
• Identify training opportunities, workflow gaps, and trends contributing to avoidable rework, denials, complaints, or delays in cash posting.
• Monitor accuracy in:
• Patient demographic updates
• Insurance verification and documentation
• Payment plan establishment
• Financial assistance screening and referrals
• Billing explanation and resolution
• Revenue Cycle & Financial Performance Support
• Collaborate with PAS, Follow-up, Coding, Denials, and Managed Care to accelerate claim resolution and reduce avoidable write-offs.
• Identify account errors leading to denials (e.g., authorization issues, COB, eligibility, MSP, demographic discrepancies) and resolve or route appropriately.
• Provide guidance on payment arrangements per policy, including escalated arrangement exceptions requiring leadership approval.
• Support cash collection targets by ensuring appropriate communication of estimates, payroll deductions, payment plans, balances, financial assistance, and self-pay policies.
• Track and escalate recurring system issues (Epic WQs and telephony failures).
• Customer Experience & Service Recovery
• Ensure a culture of patient-first, solution-driven communication and financial transparency.
• Handle sensitive complaints involving billing disputes, financial hardship, legal concerns, or reputational risk.
• Conduct follow-up with patients/guarantors to ensure resolution and satisfaction.
• Review and refine scripts with leadership to ensure clarity, professionalism, and empathy.
• Monitor trends in complaints and develop corrective action plans with leadership guidance.
• Reporting, Analytics & KPI Performance
• Use Epic reporting workbench, dashboard views, call analytics, CRM tools, and Excel trackers to monitor performance.
• Maintain real-time KPI visibility for the team and escalate variance from targets.
• Identify operational risks early and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Workflow Optimization & Project Support
• Participate in workflow redesigns, technology upgrades, telephony reconfiguration, Epic updates, and process standardization initiatives.
• Represents Customer Service during cross-functional work groups for denials, financial clearance, transparency, and billing process improvements.
• Support implementation of new policies, scripts, documentation standards, and quality scorecards.
• Assist in maintaining departmental SOPs and job aids; recommend improvements aligned with revenue cycle best practices.

Minimum Requirements

• Minimum Qualifications:
• High school diploma or GED required.
• Minimum 3 - 5 years of experience in healthcare customer service, patient financial services, PAS, billing, or revenue cycle operations.
• At least 1 year of informal or formal leadership experience (team lead, senior representative, trainer, QA auditor, or equivalent).
• Proficiency with Epic (PB/HB), and telephone call management systems.
• Advanced communication, problem-solving, customer service, and conflict resolution skills.
• Preferred Qualifications:
• Associate or Bachelor's degree preferred.
• Experience in a multi-hospital health system environment.
• Strong knowledge of insurance coverage, prior authorization, Medicare/Medicaid rules, patient billing, payment posting, and medical terminology.
• Competency with Excel, reporting tools, dashboards, and workflow analytics.
• Familiarity with denials management, financial counseling, and self-pay workflows.
• HFMA CRCR preferred.

Other Information

• Onsite role (Greenville, NC)
• Monday - Friday day shift:
• 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Great Benefits

About ECU Health

ECU Health is a mission-driven, 1,708-bed academic health care system serving more than 1.4 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties. The not-for-profit system is comprised of 13,000 team members, nine hospitals and a physician group that encompasses over 1,100 academic and community providers practicing in over 180 primary and specialty clinics located in more than 130 locations.

The flagship ECU Health Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center, and ECU Health Maynard Childrens Hospital serve as the primary teaching hospitals for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. ECU Health and the Brody School of Medicine share a combined academic mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina through patient care, education and research.

General Statement

It is the goal of ECU Health and its entities to employ the most qualified individual who best matches the requirements for the vacant position. Offers of employment are subject to successful completion of all pre-employment screenings, which may include an occupational health screening, criminal record check, education, reference, and licensure verification. We value diversity and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Decisions of employment are made based on business needs, job requirements and applicants qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, genetic information and testing, family and medical leave, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other status protected by law. We prohibit retaliation against individuals who bring forth any complaint, orally or in writing, to the employer, or against any individuals who assist or participate in the investigation of any complaint.