[Hiring] RCM Associate - Insurance AR Specialist @Optim

Role Description

Under the direction of the RCM Supervisor - Back End, the RCM Associate - Insurance AR Specialist is responsible for managing assigned insurance accounts receivable, resolving outstanding payer balances, addressing denials, and supporting timely reimbursement from third-party payers. This role supports revenue optimization, payer compliance, denial prevention, and accurate documentation of claim follow-up activity. Organization, attention to detail, prioritization, problem solving, and multitasking are necessary to ensure a high level of service to patients, physicians, payers, vendors, and OO staff.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or general education degree (GED) required; associate degree preferred.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in medical insurance billing, accounts receivable management, payer collections, claim follow-up, or revenue cycle operations preferred.
• Knowledge of Medicare, Managed Care, Commercial, Workers Compensation, and out-of-network payer policies preferred.
• CPAR certification preferred but not required.
• Experience with Athena or similar PM/EMR systems preferred.
• Ability to read and interpret payer correspondence, remittance advice, claim notes, denial information, appeal requirements, procedure manuals, and internal workflow instructions.
• Ability to write clear account notes, correspondence, appeal summaries, and routine reports.
• Ability to communicate effectively in one-on-one and small group situations with patients, payers, clients, physicians, vendors, and other employees of the organization.
• Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as adjustments, balances, percentages, payment variance, reimbursement amounts, contractual differences, patient responsibility, and aging totals.
• Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out detailed written or oral instructions.
• Ability to investigate claim history, payer responses, account documentation, and remittance data to resolve problems involving multiple variables and determine appropriate next steps.
• Knowledge of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Practice Management systems, preferably Athena; payer portals; clearinghouse tools; Outlook; Microsoft Word; and Microsoft Excel.
• Skills in operating computers, scanning, copying, faxing, phones, and other office equipment are preferred.

Requirements

• Review, prioritize, and work assigned insurance accounts receivable by payer portfolio, aging category, balance, and department priority.
• Investigate and resolve unpaid, delayed, denied, underpaid, or incorrectly processed claims.
• Monitor payer payment trends, aging buckets, and unresolved balances to identify barriers to timely reimbursement.
• Identify payer denials, rejections, slow payment patterns, and recurring claim issues and escalate trends to leadership.
• Support reduction of aged AR by working accounts timely and documenting clear, actionable follow-up notes in the practice management system.
• Review payer denials and coordinate with Coding, Precertification, Charge Entry, Denial Management, and other RCM teams to resolve account issues.
• Submit corrected claims, appeals, reconsiderations, medical records, or additional documentation as needed based on payer requirements.
• Track payer responses, appeal outcomes, corrected claim status, and next steps in Athena or other approved PM/EMR systems.
• Follow up on outstanding insurance balances using payer portals, clearinghouse tools, phone calls, written correspondence, and internal workqueues.
• Identify authorization, eligibility, coding, demographic, modifier, medical necessity, timely filing, and documentation-related issues that affect payment.
• Contact payers professionally by phone, portal, or written correspondence to resolve claim disputes and secure appropriate reimbursement.
• Maintain professional communication with payer representatives, patients, internal team members, and leadership.
• Escalate unresolved payer issues, systemic denial trends, underpayment patterns, or contract-related concerns to RCM leadership or appropriate internal teams.
• Collaborate with Revenue Integrity, Contracting, Coding, Precertification, Front End, and Payment Posting teams to resolve root causes and prevent repeat AR issues.
• Ensure all activities comply with payer guidelines, government regulations, HIPAA requirements, and internal revenue cycle policies.
• Maintain complete, accurate, and audit-ready documentation for all claim resolution actions, payer communications, appeals, and account updates.
• Track daily productivity, AR aging performance, denial resolution activity, appeal outcomes, and assigned workqueue progress.
• Participate in AR team huddles, payer meetings, denial trending reviews, workflow improvement initiatives, and special projects as assigned.
• Recommend process improvements to enhance AR turnaround, collections efficiency, documentation quality, and denial prevention.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• CPAR (Certified Patient Account Representative) preferred but not required.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands regularly; and talk or hear. The employee is required to stand, walk, and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision. May be required to travel to one or more satellite locations depending on staffing changes. May be required to participate in educational courses that correspond with current systems or functionalities.

Work Environment

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. The employee may work in a fast-paced revenue cycle environment with frequent computer, payer portal, phone, and account review activity.