Financial Clearance Manager - Patient Financial Services at Cookeville Regional Medical Center – Cookeville, Tennessee

The Financial Clearance Manager is responsible for overseeing all pre-service financial clearance functions, including insurance verification, authorization, pre-registration, and financial counseling. This role ensures that patients are financially cleared prior to service, minimizing downstream denials and optimizing upfront collections. The manager drives operational efficiency, standardization, and accountability across financial clearance workflows while partnering with Patient Access, Payer Relations, Patient Financial Services, and clinical departments to support a seamless patient and revenue cycle experience.

This role is expected to be primarily on-site to effectively lead front-line operations, support staff in real time, and drive accountability across Patient Financial Services.

Regular 8am to 5pm schedule.

Education: High School Diploma Required

Additional Education Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business, Finance, or related field preferred
Deep understanding of insurance verification, authorization workflows, and pre-registration processes
Knowledge of payer requirements, medical necessity criteria, and authorization protocols
Experience reducing authorization- and eligibility-related denials
Strong understanding of how front-end accuracy impacts downstream billing, denials, and cash
Familiarity with end-to-end revenue cycle workflows and interdependencies
Experience driving improvements in financial clearance and patient access performance
Proven ability to manage high-volume, time-sensitive workflows
Experience adhering to productivity standards and ensuring accountability amongst staff and supervisors
Ability to prioritize work based on service date, urgency, and payer requirements
Understanding of how financial clearance impacts POS collections, denials, and net revenue
Ability to interpret operational and financial data to drive decision-making
Experience improving key metrics such as clearance rates and upfront collections
Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify trends, gaps, and performance issues
Experience using dashboards and KPIs to monitor and improve team performance
Ability to translate data into actionable operational improvements
Proficiency in Epic Patient Access (RTE, work queues, authorization workflows)
Experience with automation tools and workflow optimization
Familiarity with reporting tools (Epic Reporting Workbench, Excel, Tableau)
Experience designing and managing work queues for financial clearance and authorization
Knowledge of strategic account allocation and prioritization
Ability to optimize routing rules and workload distribution
Experience leading teams through change and transformation
Strong communication skills across frontline staff and leadership
Ability to present performance updates and operational insights