Customer Service Manager

Company Mission Statement: HPM positively impacts communities by providing specialty healthcare to rural America on behalf of an underserved population.

Job Title: Customer Service Manager

Reports To: Director of Client Relations

Classification: Exempt

Position Summary: The Customer Service Manager (CSM) leads a team of schedulers in a remote call center environment, ensuring exceptional patient experience, high appointment conversion rates, and efficient scheduling operations across a growing network of facilities. This role is accountable for cultivating a culture of service excellence, driving volume growth, and supporting patient retention and treatment adherence in alignment with the Care Connect department’s strategic objectives. As a key driver of patient and hospital growth, this role will scale scheduling operations to support ongoing expansion while ensuring every patient receives timely access to care.

Duties and Responsibilities:Team Management & Collaboration

• Manage, coach, and develop the scheduler team to consistently achieve KPIs.
• Train and empower schedulers to handle first-line escalations confidently and empathetically before issues escalate further.
• Partner with Nursing Manager to align scheduling operations with clinical workflows.

·       Participate in weekly or monthly cross-functional huddles to align scheduling priorities with facility goals and operational needs.

·       Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure alignment and remove barriers to patient access and retention.

• Conduct regular performance reviews, call audits, and coaching sessions.
• Foster a culture of patient advocacy, service excellence, and accountability.

Customer Service & Call Quality

• Implement and maintain call quality monitoring scorecards (communication, empathy, problem-solving, conversion).
• Ensure schedulers use approved scripts and objection-handling techniques.
• Monitor call flow, hold times, and patient interactions to optimize efficiency and service.
• Investigate root causes of scheduling breakdowns, miscommunication, or patient dissatisfaction, and implement corrective action plans.
• Manage escalated patient or facility concerns with urgency, professionalism, and resolution-focused communication.

Operational Performance

• Oversee appointment conversion processes, ensuring patients are scheduled at the earliest appropriate opportunity.
• Drive clinic and procedure volumes by setting and monitoring weekly team goals, aligning efforts with scheduling priorities and patient retention strategies.
• Track and address no-show and cancellation patterns, collaborating with leadership to implement proactive strategies.
• Identify scheduling gaps and implement processes such as strategic overbooking and recall ticket management.
• Promote Shared Scheduling with partner facilities to improve visibility, collaboration, and proactive management of patient volumes for optimal growth.

• Reduce scheduling discrepancies by ensuring all appointment slots reach target capacity and oversee a rapid response system for urgent patient scheduling.
• Optimize technology and automation tools to improve scheduling efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.

Performance Reporting

• Produce weekly/monthly reports on scheduler KPIs, call volumes, conversion rates, and patient retention.
• Analyze scheduling trends, identify barriers to access or retention, and recommend process improvements to leadership.
• Partner with leadership to quantify ROI of scheduler operations for hospital partners.
• Contribute to strategic initiatives including over-scheduling pilots, churn/attrition tracking, and patient re-engagement campaigns.

Performance Requirements:

• Schedulers consistently achieve world-class benchmarks in conversion, retention, and service quality.
• Patient interactions reflect empathy, professionalism, and efficiency.
• Care Connect demonstrates clear ROI to hospital partners through measurable PPD increases and reduced churn.
• Leadership confidence that scheduling is proactive, data-driven, and aligned with organizational goals.
• Handles escalated patient or facility concerns with professionalism, urgency, and resolution focused communication.
• Partners effectively with Regional Managers, Onboarding, Prior Authorization, and Marketing to ensure aligned messaging, efficient scheduling handoffs, and optimal patient experience.
• Uses metrics, KPIs, and audit findings to guide decisions, track performance, and implement strategies that improve operational outcomes and patient retention.
• Regularly engages staff through one-on-ones and team meetings, providing constructive feedback, professional development, and accountability to support a high-performing team.
• Leverages Zendesk, AI tools, and automation to streamline workflows, minimize manual work, and improve scheduler productivity without increasing headcount.
• Follows and enhances established policies and workflows, ensuring operational consistency, compliance, and ongoing refinement of Care Connects performance and efficiency.
• Promotes a culture of empathy, excellence, and accountability through consistent recognition, transparent communication, and reinforcement of HPM’s values

Qualifications:

·       Proven track record of improving appointment conversion, patient retention, and service quality.

• Experience leading remote or hybrid teams and scaling operations across multiple locations.
• Familiarity with healthcare scheduling workflows, EMR systems, and patient communication platforms (e.g., Zendesk, Tebra, Cerner, Epic, or comparable).
• Strong management and coaching abilities with a focus on developing high-performing teams.
• Excellent communication, conflict resolution, and interpersonal skills.
• Process-oriented thinker with experience in workflow optimization and cross-departmental collaboration.
• Customer service driven with genuine empathy for patients and commitment to access and care continuity.

Technology Requirements:

Candidates should have a proven record of:

• Using data and automation to increase scheduling efficiency and reduce manual workload (e.g., automating recalls, reminders, and reporting processes).
• Leveraging customer service and communication platforms such as Zendesk, Tebra, or similar, to manage patient interactions, measure NPS, and track conversion outcomes.
• Using AI-driven call quality tools (voice analytics, sentiment analysis, or QA automation) to coach, improve empathy, and standardize communication quality.

Experience: Minimum 5 years in customer service management, call center operations, or patient-facing operations (preferably in healthcare or medical scheduling).

Education: Minimum of an Associate’s degree required. Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business, or a related field is preferred.

Preferred Certifications: Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (or Yellow Belt), Certified Patient Experience Professional (CPXP), or Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP).