Director of Patient Access Recruiters
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire a Director of Patient Access who stops registration errors before they become denied claims or unpaid balances.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
Get a free talent snapshot · Get a free job description review
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
- Patient Access Manager
- Director of Registration and Scheduling
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
Patient access affects what happens before an appointment, at registration, and after a claim reaches billing. You need a leader who can set clear front-end rules without creating avoidable delays for patients or clinical departments. Healthcare Headhunters recruits permanent Directors of Patient Access, Patient Access Managers, and Directors of Registration and Scheduling on a contingency basis.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
A scheduled patient may lack verified eligibility, an authorization may be pending, or an estimate may show a balance. Ask how the candidate directs staff, who receives an escalation, and what documentation is needed before service proceeds under your policies.
Look for a leader who connects registration, scheduling, financial counseling, and billing outcomes. They should distinguish a data-entry mistake from a flawed work queue or unclear ownership. A director should also explain how they review exceptions with department leaders when a new control adds time at check-in but prevents later rework.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Ask for a specific approach to eligibility verification. We ask candidates how staff work payer responses, document discrepancies, and decide when an account needs follow-up before the visit. Review prior authorization ownership. We ask who monitors pending cases, how documentation gaps are returned to the right team, and how the director reports cases that may proceed without confirmed authorization.
- Discuss point-of-service collections. We ask how they coach registration staff to explain estimates, request payment respectfully, document outcomes, and identify accounts that need financial counseling rather than repeated collection attempts.
- Test Epic Prelude and Cadence experience. We ask what rules, work queues, scheduling fields, or registration prompts they have used and what they personally changed versus what an analyst configured.
- Examine staffing decisions during arrival peaks. We ask how they compare appointment patterns, walk-ins, call volume, and staff assignments before changing schedules or coverage.
- Probe internal auditing. We ask which front-end fields they sample, how they separate training issues from system issues, and how they confirm a correction remains in place after staff education.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
Our source pool includes patient access managers who have led registration, scheduling, financial clearance, or pre-service teams. Many are ready for a director role after taking responsibility for authorization queues, collection practices, audit results, or multi-site operating decisions. Candidates may come from hospitals, health systems, ambulatory networks, and other provider organizations with structured registration operations.
A manager may consider a move for broader authority, a different reporting structure, a chance to build a team, or a setting where patient access has clearer ownership of front-end results.
Which mistakes stall the search?
Avoid hiring a registration leader who cannot explain how eligibility errors, authorization gaps, and missing fields affect billing follow-up. Avoid choosing someone based only on Epic exposure without testing what they changed, why they changed it, and how staff adopted the new process.
Avoid ignoring conflict management when clinical leaders want faster scheduling and patient access needs more complete information before a visit.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us where the breakdown occurs. Ask finalists to walk through a realistic case, such as an elective service scheduled with incomplete coverage information. We present screened candidates and discuss work history, credentials, and fit. It may be pending authorizations, incomplete scheduling data, inconsistent estimates, registration edits, or unclear ownership between departments.
Describe the problem to solve
We use that detail to frame candidate conversations.
Interview for decisions, not titles
Compare their escalation path, staff coaching plan, system knowledge, and follow-up method.
Complete your internal review
You complete your own credentialing, reference process, and clinical or operational assessment before making a hiring decision.
Where this search connects
Revenue Cycle, Reimbursement & HIM
SpecialtyHospitals & Health Systems
SettingPhysician Groups & Specialty Practices
SettingAmbulatory Surgery Centers & Surgical Hospitals
SettingHome Health & Hospice
SettingVP of Revenue Cycle
Related roleDirector of Revenue Cycle
Related roleDirector of Patient Financial Services (PFS / CBO)
Related roleDirector of Health Information Management (HIM)
Related roleNational median annual wage. SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers.
BLS reports Medical and Health Services Managers as one occupation. It does not publish a separate estimate for Director of Patient Access, its setting or its engagement terms.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025-05, released 2026-05-15. View source. See the full guide.
Open roles
Not ready to start a search?
Get a free talent snapshot
We tell you where qualified Director of Patient Access are working in your area and what it takes to move them. No fee. No obligation.
Get a free job description review
Paste or upload the JD. We flag unclear scope, requirements and terms that may put strong candidates off. No fee. No obligation.
Should this director come from registration or revenue cycle?
Either background can work when the candidate has led front-end patient access decisions. Registration experience matters when your main issue is intake discipline, while revenue cycle exposure can help when denial trends and payment follow-up drive the search. The right director can explain the choices made during a shift.
How much Epic Prelude or Cadence experience should we expect?
Look beyond user familiarity. A strong candidate should describe how Prelude or Cadence supported registration, scheduling, edits, work queues, or required fields, and where they partnered with information technology or analysts.
What should we ask about point-of-service collections?
Ask how the candidate trains staff to discuss estimates and balances before care begins. They should explain documentation, escalation to financial counseling, and how they review results without turning staff conversations into scripts that ignore patient circumstances.
Can a manager step into a director role?
Yes, if the manager has already made department-level decisions and influenced other teams. Test their experience with staffing patterns, audit findings, policy changes, financial clearance, and conversations with clinical and finance leaders.
What terms apply when recruiting a permanent patient access director?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell us where patient access is losing time or revenue. We will help you assess directors who can lead the daily decisions behind cleaner registration and scheduling work.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Which other positions in this family should you consider?
Director of Patient Financial Services (PFS / CBO) · Director of Health Information Management (HIM)
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.