Home Health Accounts Payable

# Accounts Payable Specialist – Home Health

## Position Overview

The Accounts Payable Specialist is responsible for managing the accurate and timely processing, reconciliation, and tracking of payments related to clinicians, vendors, and home health agency accounts.

This position plays an important role in ensuring that payments are supported by accurate visit data, documentation requirements are met, discrepancies are identified before payment, and outstanding financial issues are communicated and resolved promptly.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, comfortable working with spreadsheets and multiple software platforms, and able to independently follow financial issues through resolution.

## Key Responsibilities

### Clinician & Vendor Payments
- Review clinician invoices for accuracy before payment.
- Verify completed visits against company records and applicable agency/EMR records.
- Confirm that billed visits were completed, documented, and eligible for payment.
- Identify duplicate visits, incorrect rates, missing visits, or other discrepancies.
- Verify clinician-specific rates and payment terms.
- Prepare accurate payment summaries for approval.
- Maintain organized records of payments made to clinicians and vendors.
- Track payment holds, adjustments, credits, and offsets when applicable.
- Ensure disputed or questionable visits are reviewed before payment is released.

### Home Health Agency Account Reconciliation
- Reconcile completed visits against agency records and company records.
- Review outstanding balances and identify unpaid or underpaid invoices.
- Track agency payments and properly apply payments to outstanding invoices.
- Identify discrepancies between amounts billed, amounts received, and expected payments.
- Research missing payments or partial payments.
- Maintain accurate aging reports for agency accounts.
- Escalate accounts that exceed contractual payment terms.

### Accounts Receivable Support
Although primarily an Accounts Payable position, the employee will assist with financial reconciliation involving agency accounts.

Responsibilities include:

- Monitoring outstanding invoices.
- Reviewing accounts approaching or exceeding payment terms.
- Preparing payment follow-up information for management.
- Communicating with agency Accounts Payable departments regarding outstanding balances.
- Documenting payment promises and expected payment dates.
- Following up on missing checks, ACH payments, returned payments, or payment discrepancies.
- Maintaining a clear history of collection efforts and agency responses.

### Visit & Billing Reconciliation
- Compare clinician invoices against completed patient visits.
- Verify that visits were properly documented and accepted when required.
- Identify visits that should not yet be paid because of missing documentation, agency rejection, or verification issues.
- Research discrepancies with the appropriate internal department.
- Work with Case Management, Coordinators, Staffing, and leadership when visit clarification is needed.
- Ensure corrections are reflected before finalizing payroll/payment reports.

### Payment Tracking & Aging
- Maintain agency aging reports.
- Categorize outstanding balances based on age, including:
- Current
- 30 days
- 45 days
- 60 days
- 90+ days
- Identify accounts that are becoming financially risky.
- Report significant payment delays to leadership.
- Maintain documentation of agency payment plans when applicable.
- Track promised payment dates and confirm whether commitments are met.

### Financial Reporting
Prepare recurring reports for leadership including:

- Outstanding agency balances
- Accounts exceeding contractual payment terms
- Payments received
- Expected upcoming payments
- Clinician/vendor payment totals
- Payment discrepancies
- Unresolved billing issues
- Aging summaries
- High-risk accounts

Immediately escalate unusual financial activity, significant discrepancies, returned payments, or prolonged nonpayment.

## Communication Responsibilities

The Accounts Payable Specialist communicates professionally with:

- Home health agency Accounts Payable departments
- Internal Finance personnel
- Clinicians
- Case Managers
- Coordinators
- Staffing personnel
- Company leadership

Communication should be professional, clear, documented, and focused on obtaining a specific resolution.

When following up regarding outstanding payments, the employee should clearly document:

- Amount outstanding
- Invoice(s) involved
- Original due date
- Previous communication
- Payment commitment received
- Expected payment date
- Current status
- Required next action

## Accuracy & Accountability Standards

The Accounts Payable Specialist is expected to:

- Maintain a high level of financial accuracy.
- Review information carefully before releasing payments.
- Never assume a discrepancy has been resolved without verification.
- Follow financial issues through completion rather than simply forwarding them to another department.
- Maintain organized documentation supporting financial transactions.
- Immediately report significant inconsistencies or unusual financial activity.
- Protect confidential company, clinician, patient, and financial information.

## Required Skills

- Strong attention to detail
- Excellent organizational skills
- Strong spreadsheet skills
- Ability to reconcile financial records
- Ability to identify discrepancies
- Strong written and verbal communication
- Ability to manage multiple outstanding items simultaneously
- Ability to prioritize accounts based on financial risk
- Comfortable following up persistently and professionally regarding outstanding payments
- Ability to work independently
- Strong problem-solving and investigative skills

## Preferred Experience

- Accounts payable or accounts receivable experience
- Healthcare or home health experience
- Medical billing or healthcare reconciliation experience
- Experience working with independent contractors or 1099 clinicians
- QuickBooks Online experience
- Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets experience
- Familiarity with home health EMRs such as WellSky/Kinnser, HCHB, Axxess, or similar systems

## Performance Expectations

Success in this position is measured by:

- Accuracy of clinician and vendor payments
- Accuracy of agency account reconciliations
- Timeliness of payment processing
- Timeliness of discrepancy resolution
- Accuracy of aging reports
- Reduction of unresolved outstanding balances
- Consistent follow-up on overdue accounts
- Clear documentation of financial issues
- Timely escalation of high-risk accounts
- Minimal payment errors or duplicate payments

## Core Principle

The Accounts Payable Specialist is not simply responsible for entering payments.

The goal of this position is to protect the financial health of the company by ensuring that every payment going out is accurate, every payment coming in is properly accounted for, and financial discrepancies are identified, documented, followed up on, and resolved.