Director of Patient Assistance Office (PAO)

WHY UT SOUTHWESTERN?
With over 75 years of excellence in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, UT Southwestern is committed to excellence, innovation, teamwork, and compassion. As a world-renowned medical and research center, we strive to provide the best possible care, resources, and benefits for our valued employees. Ranked as the number 1 hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth according to U.S. News & World Report, we invest in you with opportunities for career growth and development to align with your future goals. Our highly competitive benefits package offers healthcare, PTO and paid holidays, on-site childcare, wage, merit increases and so much more. We invite you to be a part of the UT Southwestern team where you'll discover a culture of teamwork, professionalism, and a rewarding career!

JOB SUMMARY
Reporting to the Health System Chief Medical Officer, the Director, Patient Assistance Office leads the health system's Patient Service Recovery program. The Director oversees the intake, triage, tracking, and resolution of patient complaints and service concerns received through centralized communication channels and external agencies. The role partners with clinical and operational leaders across all UT Southwestern clinical sites to ensure timely, compliant responses and to identify recurring issues that require process improvement. The Director also manages staff who support complaint resolution and patient communications.

BENEFITS
UT Southwestern is proud to offer a competitive and comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. Our benefits are designed to support your overall wellbeing, and include:

• PPO medical plan, available day one at no cost for full-time employee-only coverage
• 100% coverage for preventive healthcare-no copay
• Paid Time Off, available day one
• Retirement Programs through the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS)
• Paid Parental Leave Benefit
• Wellness programs
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Qualified Employer
• Learn more about these and other UTSW employee benefits!

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Job Duties

* Leads the centralized intake and triage process for patient complaints and service concerns received through institutional communication channels (e.g., phone and email) across all UT Southwestern clinical sites.

* Defines and maintains clear workflows for assigning and handing off cases to operational partners (e.g., Medical Risk Management, site-based service coordination teams, and Revenue Cycle) and tracks cases through resolution.

* Ensures processes support timely acknowledgment, follow-up, and resolution communications to patients in accordance with applicable requirements and internal standards.

* Represents the Patient Assistance Office on institutional, hospital/site, and service line committees (e.g., Patient Experience Committee and the Clements University Hospital Patient Grievance Committee).

* Identifies recurring themes and patterns in patient concerns, escalates findings to appropriate leaders, and supports the development of action plans to address underlying issues.

* Partners with Medical Risk Management, Legal Affairs, Compliance, and Quality leadership to align service recovery activities with patient safety, risk mitigation, and organizational priorities.

* Maintains and improves data collection and reporting to monitor the volume, type, location, and timeliness of patient concerns and to support trend analysis and continuous improvement.

* Provides overall direction for the Patient Service Recovery process, including identifying and implementing process improvements to improve timeliness, consistency, and customer experience.

* Leads and develops managers and staff responsible for resolving patient service and billing complaints; provides guidance on appropriate resolution options and customer communications.

* Conducts regular reviews of Patient Service Recovery files with Service Recovery Managers to confirm next steps, remove barriers, and support timely resolution; leads team and individual meetings to review case status.

* Reviews and edits interim and final patient letters prepared by Service Recovery Managers to ensure clarity, completeness, and appropriate tone.

* Oversees the process for notifying patients when a physician is leaving their practice, in coordination with clinical and operational leadership.

* Follows up with hospitals, clinics, or services when responses to complaints are incomplete, delayed, or do not address the reported concern; documents and communicates recommendations.

* Assists in monitoring and preparing the annual budget for Clinical Operations and the Patient Assistance Office.

* Serves as a point of contact and coordinates responses to patient concerns received through external agencies (e.g., the Better Business Bureau) and similar organizations.

* Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience

Required

• Education
  Bachelor's Degree in Business, Healthcare Administration, Nursing, Public Health, or a related field

• Experience
  Minimum 7 years progressive experience in patient assistance, service recovery, risk management, or related healthcare administrative functions.
  Minimum 3 years leadership experience managing teams, operations, or programs with measurable performance outcomes.
  Demonstrated experience interpreting and applying healthcare regulatory, accreditation, and compliance requirements, including CMS, Joint Commission, and patient rights standards.

Preferred

• Education

Master's Degree preferred (MBA, MHA, MPH, or related field)

* Experience
Leading or implementing a service recovery function in a large medical center environment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence and align stakeholders across clinical and administrative leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and standardize operations across multiple hospitals/entities.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, and implement corrective actions.
• Proven ability to create metric-driven operations and drive measurable improvements in analysis times, response times, and procedural compliance.
• Strong project management and change management capabilities.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORKING CONDITIONS

• Working Conditions
  Office Setting

PACT STATEMENT

The following is the acronym, "PACT", and is fundamental to all non-clinical positions at UT Southwestern Medical Center:

• P-Problem Solving: Employees take ownership in solving problems effectively, efficiently, and to the satisfaction of customers, or managers. They show initiative in addressing areas of concern before they become problems.
• A-Ability, Attitude and Accountability: Employees exhibit ability to perform their job and conduct themselves in a professional and positive manner reflecting a professional environment readily assuming obligations in a dependable and reliable manner.
• C-Communication, Contribution, and Collaboration: Who are our Customers? Anyone who requests our help, needs our work product, or receives our services. Employees focus on customer service with creative solutions while improving the customer experience through clear, courteous, and timely delivery and communication. Sharing ideas with others helps expand our contribution to department goals.
• T-Teamwork: Employees work to contribute to the department's success by supporting co-workers, promoting excellence in work product and customer service, and in maintaining a satisfying, caring environment for each other.

Salary
Salary Negotiable

Security
This position is security-sensitive and subject to Texas Education Code 51.215, which authorizes UT Southwestern to obtain criminal history record information.

EEO Statement

UT Southwestern Medical Center is committed to an educational and working environment that provides equal opportunity to all members of the University community. As an equal opportunity employer, UT Southwestern prohibits unlawful discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or veteran status.