Exempt

Immediately

Salary commensurate with experience

40 hours weekly

This is a full-time position that will be performed remotely in Texas.

Health Affairs

A resume and letter of interest is required to apply. Candidates under final consideration will also be required to submit professional references, college degree information, and employment history to an online third-party vendor.

For more than 140 years, The University of Texas System has improved the lives of Texans — and people all over the world — through education, health care, and research. The System consists of nine academic institutions, four health institutions, and The University of Texas System Administration. The institutions of the UT System employ more than 160,000 faculty, health care professionals, researchers, support staff, and student workers.

The UT System Administration is primarily based in Austin, Texas. It supports the missions of the System’s thirteen institutions by providing financial, legal, planning, purchasing, government relations, communications, development, and other central services. Serving a growing state, the UT System Administration strives to provide a welcoming, supportive work environment that embraces different perspectives - not only because it enables the organization to be stronger, creative, and thoughtful, but because it is the right thing to do. To that end, UT System Administration embraces state laws on military and former foster children employment preferences.

Responsible for guiding payers’ contracting efforts across multiple Health Related Institutions (HRI) within the University of Texas System (UTS). This position directs the day-to-day management of certain payer contract negotiations and governance, coordinating cross-functional teams (finance, legal, operations, clinical leadership). The Associate Vice Chancellor shapes and executes a strategic roadmap to secure competitive local reimbursement rates and favorable operational terms, driving continuous optimization of contract performance post-execution. By leveraging best practices, this role establishes scalable processes and governance structures that maximize revenue, mitigate risk, and improve patient access. Works closely with the Physician Faculty Group, Health System leaders, Revenue Cycle Operations (RCO), Finance, ITS, Compliance, Managed Care and Payer Relations to ensure accurate and efficient pricing strategies and CDM integrity.

• Strategic Leadership:
  • Manage and guide UTS managed care collaborative by leading committees and ensuring adherence to collaboration governance.
  • Play various roles in, and facilitate, multiple payer negotiations, including commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid managed care.
  • Develop negotiation playbooks, rate models, and accountable care contracting strategies.
  • Partner with executive leadership across various UTS HRIs to align contracting strategies with individual institutional growth goals.
  • Oversee network architecture design, uptime Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and disaster-recovery plans to ensure 24/7 availability for critical contract data flows.
  • Assist with the development, definition, and implementation of population health strategies, specifically contributing to value-based/accountable care reimbursement initiatives.
  • Support the strategic development and implementation of the revenue integrity function when supported by the local UTS HRI, including hospital and physician charge capture and identification of opportunities to increase net revenue.
  • Assist with the development of revenue projections and proformas for lines of business based on existing and new contracts, payor mix assumptions, and new lines of business when supported and required by various UTS HRIs.
• Compliance and Regulatory Oversight:
  • Ensure compliance with all federal, state and local regulations related to contracting, pricing and chargemaster across the UTS HRIs and adjust accordingly.
  • Conduct regular audits of contracts to identify and correct discrepancies.
  • Collaborate with compliance and legal teams to stay updated on regulatory changes and implement necessary adjustments including, but not limited to, ACA, transparency, Medicaid, and other contractual requirements.
• Operational Management:
  • Strategic oversight of the day-to-day operations of the key contractual terms.
  • Establish contract intake workflows, approval committees, and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboards.
  • Analyze market trends, payer performance, and competitor benchmarks to inform negotiation strategies.
  • Oversee contract implementation, data-driven performance reviews, and optimization plans.
  • Integrate the considerations of individual HRI’s pricing and Chargemaster (CDM) initiatives into contractual goals to optimize revenue. Oversee centralized skills training opportunities for UTS contracting departments when asked, including negotiation, presentation, and communication.
  • Help facilitate required technical training for the team on contract management software and transparency/pricing software.
• Collaboration and Communication:
  • Collaborate with IT/IS and analytics teams to automate renewal alerts, rate variance reporting, and claim adjudication metrics.
  • Design a feedback loop for clinical and revenue cycle teams to optimize utilization management and denial prevention.
  • Facilitate UTS training sessions on negotiation/payer relations with best practices and governance updates.
  • Facilitate best practice forums across UTS HRI’s, hosted by one of the UT Health Related Institutions.
• Data Analysis and Reporting:
  • Analyze pricing data to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.
  • Prepare regular reports for senior leadership on contractual positions for each UTS institution, pricing strategies, revenue impacts and compliance status.
  • Utilize data to inform strategic decisions and leverage contracting strengths of the UT System.
  • Facilitate the payer contracting committee across the UTS HRIs and ensure alignment with changes and ensuant impact.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Strong financial acumen: proficiency in rate build-up, cost modeling, and Return on Investment (ROI) analysis.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, capable of interacting effectively from C-suite to operational teams.
• Thorough knowledge of commercial managed care, Medicaid, and Medicare contract payment terms and regulations, healthcare finance concepts, principles, and trends.
• In-depth knowledge of hospital and professional coding and reimbursement methodologies (e.g., DRG, APC, APG, CPT, RVU, conversion factors).
• Ability to lead effective teams and to build and maintain strong business relationships with internal and external clients.
• Great appreciation for the paradigm, workflow, and capability changes necessary for primary care providers to be successful under advanced risk-based arrangements.
• Experience successfully partnering with providers and care teams in a patient and provider-centric manner to effect change and improve processes and outcomes.
• Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of healthcare financial and operational data and reporting, as well as healthcare technology.
• Comfortable leading large-scale transformation and change management initiatives.
• In-depth knowledge of physician and hospital contracting strategies, negotiation, and regulatory requirements.

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, healthcare administration, or related field, or equivalent.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in payer and health system contracting, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven track record negotiating high-value contracts (>$100 million annualized spend).

• MHA or MBA preferred.
• Experience within an academic health system or large integrated delivery network.
• Familiarity with accountable care and risk-sharing contract structures.
• Prior key payer experience in contracting and/or network management in Texas and/or other key markets.
• Prior exposure to best practices at peer institutions (e.g., University of California health system).
• Demonstrated success implementing contract lifecycle management tools.
• Experience with Epic, Cerner, or other major EHR/EMR systems.
• Experience in a key higher level strategic role within healthcare.

• May work around standard office conditions.
• Uses standard office equipment
• 10% Travel
• Requires occasional evening or weekend hours
• Remote work environment in Texas

The standard retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. However, the incumbent of this position may elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. Participation in either TRS or ORP is mandatory.

A background check will be conducted on applicants under final consideration. The background check may include any or all of the following: criminal history check, prior employment verification, education verification, professional references check, and motor vehicle records check. Background checks are conducted by third-party vendors. Upon request from the third-party vendor, candidates under final consideration must provide the required information for the background checks to be completed.

The University of Texas System Administration is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all qualified applicants and employees in all terms and conditions of employment. U. T. System will provide equal employment opportunity to all qualified persons and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, pregnancy, religion, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state laws.

For information on accommodations for individuals with disabilities, please contact the Office of Talent and Innovation at oti@utsystem.edu.