Your Role

The Medical Management team ensures that Blue Shield of California is on the cutting edge of medical, medication, and payment policy to accelerate the emergence of a value-based health care system in California. The Senior Medical Director, Behavioral Health will report to the Vice President, Medical Management. In this role you will provide leadership to the behavioral health medical director team and have core responsibilities in the areas of psychiatric inpatient concurrent review, pre and post service utilization review, and collaboration with RN Care Managers. The Senior Medical Director, Behavioral Health will serve as clinical, regulatory and quality improvement resource and clinical behavioral health thought leader within the organization and externally with provider group and community partners. This role will be responsible for the overall Behavioral Health Clinical strategy and subject matter expertise in behavioral health.

Your Work

In this role, you will:

• Provide oversight of the clinical behavioral health program, including managing the behavioral health medical director team
• Chair behavioral health committee and participate in additional committees as the expert on clinical behavioral health
• Provide behavioral health subject matter expertise for regulators, mandates, legal, external communications, and others as necessary
• Participate in internal and external audits and clinical oversight of behavioral health delegates
• Provide behavioral health clinical leadership and support to staff (clinical and non-clinical)
• Serve as subject matter expert for the clinical behavioral health strategy and growth
• Provide expertise and guidance around behavioral health utilization management program to support all lines of business
• Review pre- and post-service behavioral health service requests and render decisions based on the member's benefits, medical necessity, Blue Shield of California medical policy, FEP (spell out acronym) medical policy, as well as legal and regulatory requirements. Medical decision-making and support for the behavioral health review for all services currently requiring authorization or review, facilitating appropriate use of all resources, including safe and timely discharges
• Engage in telephonic physician-to-physician discussions regarding current members in various levels of care or who may be receiving other specialized services. Therefore, the Medical Director must feel comfortable in clinical conversations with Blue Shield provider
• Train BSC utilizations and care management staff which may include physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, and others as needed
• Perform clinical reviews to support utilization management and fraud waste and abuse case evaluations
• Participate with the quality management function in the identification and analysis of medical information to develop interventions to improve quality of care and outcomes for our members
• Participate on projects and committees, as necessary
• Lead a team of physicians and psychologists
• Other duties as assigned

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum 5 years direct patient care behavioral health clinical experience post residency required
• Medical degree (M.D./D.O.)
• Completed residency in Psychiatry
• Maintain active, unrestricted California State Medical License required; Maintain active, unrestricted Medical License in all additional assigned states required
• Maintain Board Certification in Psychiatry through American Board of Psychology and Neurology (ABPN) or the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry (AOBNP) required
• Minimum of 2 years of previous medical leadership experience
• Deep knowledge of MHPAEA (Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act), SB855 and all regulatory and compliance requirements

Preferred Qualifications:

• Active recent inpatient psychiatric hospital experience (within the past five years) is desirable
• A minimum of 3 years of Health Plan experience in commercial, Medicare Advantage and Medi-Cal utilization management, case review, and/or quality improvement activities in a managed care setting is preferred but not required for this position
• Well-versed with most areas of behavioral health services and conditions, show ability for rapid, accurate decision-making, and enjoy care review, as well as the investigation and resolution of complex issues.
• Experience with CPT coding, medical claims review, hospital billing, and reimbursement is a core competency
• Managed care experience supporting utilization management of all levels in behavioral health
• Typically has mastery level knowledge and skills within a specific technical or professional discipline with broad understanding of other areas within the job function
• Requires broad management and leadership knowledge to lead project teams and/or multiple job areas

Pay Range:

The pay range for this role is: $ 254545.00 to $ 360000.00 for California.

Note:

Please note that this range represents the pay range for this and many other positions at Blue Shield that fall into this pay grade. Blue Shield salaries are based on a variety of factors, including the candidate's experience, location (California, Bay area, or outside California), and current employee salaries for similar roles.

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