Blue Shield Of California

Sr. Director, Pharmacy - Prior Authorization & Call Center

Blue Shield Of California$150K — $180K *
Healthcare
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Active California Registered Pharmacist (RPh) license required.
  • Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from an accredited U.S. school needed.
  • 12 years of experience in managed care or pharmacy benefit management.
  • 6 years of people management experience essential.
  • Prefer vendor management and oversight experience.
  • Strong understanding of therapeutic drug use and national guidelines preferred.
  • Knowledge of pharmacy benefits and formulary programs preferred.
  • Excellent communication skills and problem-solving abilities required.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and optimize the prior authorization team for business objectives.
  • Manage the pharmacy call center to coordinate drug therapy access.
  • Implement medication coverage policies based on evidence-based guidelines.
  • Collaborate with analytics to evaluate program performance and drive improvements.
  • Develop vendor oversight processes to ensure compliance with clinical standards.
  • Work cross-functionally to promote adherence to coverage policies and optimize care.
  • Introduce strategies and technologies to enhance program effectiveness.

Benefits

  • Flexible hybrid workplace with in-office collaboration two days per week.
  • Opportunity to build and lead a high-performing team.
  • Engagement in strategic decision-making and program optimization.
  • Exposure to regulatory compliance and audit processes.
  • Chance to implement innovative solutions like automation and AI.
Full Job Description
Job Description

Your Role

The Senior Director, Pharmacy Prior Authorization and Call Center will report to the Senior Vice President of Pharmacy Services at BSC. In this role you will manage a team of over 200 employees and in collaboration with the Medical Director, be responsible for designing, executing, and optimizing prior authorization and call center processes to ensure clinically appropriate, cost effective, and compliant patient care. You will work cross functionally and partner with vendors as appropriate to optimize patient access while supporting affordability of medications covered under pharmacy and medical benefits for all lines of businesses.

Responsibilities

Your Work

In this role, you will:
  • Lead and manage the prior authorization team to meet clinical, regulatory and business objectives of the prior authorization program
  • Lead and manage the pharmacy call center team to support inbound and outbound provider calls to coordinate access to appropriate drug therapy for members
  • Implement and maintain medication coverage policies for drugs in the pharmacy and medical benefits that promotes evidence-based coverage decisions
  • Collaborate with analytics and business areas to drive evaluation of prior authorization program outcomes and performance, and identify opportunities to improve
  • Develop and implement Prior Authorization vendor oversight program and process to ensure compliance with expected clinical and regulatory standards
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with BSC Medical Directors, Appeals and Grievance and care management teams to share accountability for evidence-based decision-making, promote adherence to BSC coverage policies, facilitate care coordination and optimize customer experience
  • Implement strategies and technology enhancements (e.g. automation, AI) to improve program effectiveness and operational efficiency
  • Participate in regulatory or quality audits that involve the review of utilization management program
  • Build a high performing team and drive leadership principles among managers, and foster a great workplace to do meaning work


Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience
  • Requires a current active and unrestricted California Registered Pharmacist (RPh) license
  • Requires a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from an accredited school of pharmacy in the U.S.
  • Requires 12 years of prior experience in: a managed care health plan or pharmacy benefit management companies or other relevant settings; pharmacy prior authorization program and call center operations; developing and implementing strategic operational plans to optimize efficiency and cost outcomes
  • Requires 6 years of people management experience
  • Prior experience in vendor management and oversight preferred
  • Thorough knowledge regarding therapeutic use of drugs and available national guidelines preferred
  • Knowledge of pharmacy benefits, formulary, network programs for drugs covered in pharmacy and medical benefits preferred
  • Strong financial and business acumen with the ability to leverage performance data to drive operational improvements
  • Excellent interpersonal, written & verbal communication skills
  • Strategic and analytic thinking; problem-solving skills informed by data and evidence

Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week.

Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

#LI-JB1

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail.

About Blue Shield Of California

Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health plan provider that has been providing Californians with access to high-quality healthcare for over 80 years. The company offers a range of health insurance products and services to individuals, families, and employers. Blue Shield of California is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of its members and the communities it serves. The company is also committed to sustainability and has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce its environmental impact.
Learn more about Blue Shield Of California
Size
7,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1981

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