Employment Opportunities
Vice President – Client Services & Program Management
Organizational Background
The Medicare Rights Center (www.medicarerights.org) is a national, nonprofit consumer services organization that works to ensure access to affordable health care for older adults and people with disabilities through counseling and advocacy, educational programs and public policy initiatives. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2009, Medicare Rights is an independent, consumer-oriented source of Medicare information for all Americans, whether they are older consumers, people with disabilities, their caregivers or the professionals serving them.
In carrying out its mission, Medicare Rights works in three main areas to help the 45 million Americans with Medicare. First, through its Client Services Department, it provides direct assistance to individuals who need answers to Medicare questions, and help resolving problems with access to health care – through counseling, enrollment, casework and, when necessary, legal advocacy in individual appeals cases. Second, the Education Department at Medicare Rights leverages its content expertise in the field of Medicare through a number of media, most notably the online tool “Medicare Interactive,” a comprehensive source of easy-to-understand information about all aspects of Medicare presented in a user-friendly format at www.medicareinteractive.org. Third, Medicare Rights draws on its day-to-day experiences helping Medicare beneficiaries to bring the consumer voice to Congress, the executive branch, the state government of New York State and other states and to the ongoing national policy debate on Medicare.
Medicare Rights’s unique blend of direct service, education, advocacy and policy work ensures that real consumer experiences reach the highest levels of policy-making, and that policies and laws adopted at state and federal levels are translated for consumers and effectively implemented.
Since its founding in 1989, Medicare Rights has provided assistance to more than one million people. In its most recent year, it received almost 49,000 hotline calls, and handled 16,000 new counseling cases. Its annual budget is approximately $3.3 million, with slightly over half provided by foundations and private donors, and the balance by government grants and contracts. The staff of approximately 40 professionals is headquartered in conveniently located midtown Manhattan, with additional offices in Washington, D.C. and Westchester County. Approximately 200 skilled and dedicated volunteers support the work of the Medicare Rights Center, many of them having served in their roles for several years.
The Position – Vice President, Client Services and Program Management
At this important juncture in its history, the Medicare Rights Center is seeking a Vice President, Client Services and Program Management -- a new role created to ensure a sustained level of growth in program management (sourced through both private and public funding) that is aligned with the continued growth and expansion of its Client Services group, the primary team responsible for the delivery of all direct client services provided by the Medicare Rights Center. A key senior role in the organization, the Vice President will report directly to the President, and, in addition to directing the work of the staff in Client Services, will work collaboratively with his/her colleagues in the Program Development, Policy, Education, Marketing, Communications and Individual Fundraising departments, to ensure that all Client Services program development and management efforts are coordinated and optimized across the organization.
Specific Responsibilities of the Vice President, Client Services and Program Management include:
- Ensure that high-quality service delivery is maintained across all services provided by the Client Services group. Manage and evaluate the core hotline program to assess its ongoing value at meeting clients’ needs, as well as supporting Medicare Rights’s need for accurate, relevant data and information on the impact of its client work.
- In conjunction with the President, assess the current scope of the work of Client Services to identify appropriate alignment between issues being addressed and the available resources provided by Program Development’s efforts. Going forward, identify specific programs within the current New York focus of Client Services’ work that are scalable and replicable in other states, or nationally.
- Successfully collaborate with the Program Development team in order to ensure strong alignment between funding opportunities and core competencies at the Medicare Rights Center, and toward the successful procurement of the funds needed to maintain core programs, and expand scalable programs.
- In conjunction with the President, and within the context of an overall organizational plan, identify a vision, strategy and work plan for Client Services and Program Management for the next 24 to 36 months; assign responsibility and goals for discrete aspects of the plan to staff, and lead them to successful achievement.
- Serve as thought leader and champion for continuously improving the quality of client data, and the appropriate leveraging of data and information into analysis useful to management, and for the regular publication of reports on Medicare-related issues.
- Partner to develop and implement a new enterprise-wide CRM system (“Customer Relationship Management”) that will support a new client database that is user-friendly and addresses current technology needs; ensure all Client Services staff and volunteers are trained on the new technology and continually make optimal use of it.
- Champion a culture of management by metrics and measurement, and the identification and adoption of best practices on an ongoing basis.
- As a spokesperson for the Medicare Rights Center, serve as speaker, presenter,and advocate for all aspects of the organization’s work -- at conferences, with fellow health care organizations, with funders and with government agencies at the local, state and federal levels.
- In collaboration with the President and the Director of Operations, manage all personnel matters related to the staff in Client Services.
- Assume additional responsibilities as may be requested by the President.
Qualifications
The successful candidate will be an experienced leader, with a demonstrated commitment to working collaboratively and successfully in a mission-driven organization, and possess the ability to be a thought leader early in his/her tenure, even as he/she assumes a new set of responsibilities.
Specific Qualifications Include:
- Undergraduate degree required; advanced degree in relevant area preferred.
- 7+ years of post-undergraduate work experience, with a strong preference for experience in either a health care policy or social services organization.
- A solid working knowledge of Medicare is strongly preferred, preferably obtained through some aspect of previous work experience.
- Experience in program management, in a supervisory capacity, preferably in a health care setting.
- Previous managerial responsibility and a track record of building successful teams.
- Experience in a “customer service” environment preferred, in which metrics and best practices are championed.
- A leadership style that is highly collaborative, yet appropriately decisive; a willingness to work across departmental lines on a consistent basis to ensure the delivery of high-quality client services.
- Demonstrated sound judgment and strong managerial skills that will support the professional development of the Client Services group.
- Analytical in orientation with a high tolerance for complexity in subject matter, and an ability to meet deadlines on a regular basis.
Salary is commensurate with experience. The Medicare Rights Center offers a generous benefits package.
Application Instructions
The Medicare Rights Center is committed to diversity, and welcomes applications from individuals of any race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation.
Qualified applicants should send a cover letter and resume to: jobs@medicarerights.org with “VP-Client Services/Program Management” in the subject line.
No phone calls please. Local candidates only. The Vice President, Client Services and Program Management will be based in the midtown Manhattan headquarters of the Medicare Rights Center.