What does a senior healthcare consultant do?
A senior healthcare consultant specializes in recommending solutions to optimize healthcare services. They mainly work for healthcare-related companies where their responsibilities include performing extensive research and analysis to identify the best practices and cost-efficient service, gathering and analyzing data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of existing policies and procedures, and developing solutions to problem areas. Furthermore, as a senior healthcare consultant, it is essential to lead and serve as a mentor to junior consultants in the joint effort to reach goals, all while adhering to the company's vision and mission.
Senior healthcare consultant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior healthcare consultant resumes:
- Develop policies and procedures to ensure regulatory compliance and to achieve quality standards as set forth by CMS and JCAHO.
- Manage design and development of cloud-base billing application for streamlining payroll and invoicing, as well as offering real-time business analytics.
- Process patient identification algorithm to determine patients who possibly have a rare chronic condition by running SAS and SQL programs.
- Prepare, review and analyze Medicare and Medicaid cost reports for hospice, home health agencies, and senior nursing facilities.
- Prepare gap analysis to determine current Michigan Medicaid processes and practices for HIPAA requirements and implementation.
- Develop disaster and HIPAA compliance plans.
- Provide support for ICD-9 and revenue codes.
- Produce actionable health metrics for ACO contract physician groups.
- Determine if bills should bills meet requirements to for appeals and denials.
- Work with clients on deploying cloud base systems including desktops and data centers.
- Provide CMS with guidance on the organizational design that best meet their staffing and business needs.
- Provide consulting at hospitals and health plans, including system compliance reviews for HIPAA security and privacy.
- Interface with insurance claims representatives to resolve outstanding claims and balances and process insurance denials and appeals.
- Implement and train all staff on various financial processes, including payroll, A/R & A/P processes.
- Devise sales strategies, produce technical documentation and diagrams, and complete customer business reviews during the pre-sales cycle.
Senior healthcare consultant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Senior Healthcare Consultants are proficient in Project Management, Client Relationships, and Medicaid. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Problem-solving skills, and Time-management skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Healthcare Consultants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Project Management, 12%
Directed project management end-to-end activities from kick off to implementation for our business partners.
- Client Relationships, 9%
Attended professional conferences as spokesperson for company, resulting in 20 new client relationships in four years.
- Medicaid, 9%
Compiled Medicaid and Medicare cost reports twice a year for several long-term care facilities*Provided Medicaid or Medicare training as requested by clients
- Client Facing, 7%
Coordinated implementation activities for hospitality software solution including client facing requirements gathering, application deployment and user training.
- SQL, 6%
Utilized Microsoft SQL Server 2000/2005 for relational database design/modeling, and data mapping/ migration of new systems.
- Data Analysis, 6%
Provided financial statements and projections after data analysis and scrutiny, which were then validated throughout the project.
Common skills that a senior healthcare consultant uses to do their job include "project management," "client relationships," and "medicaid." You can find details on the most important senior healthcare consultant responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for a senior healthcare consultant to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what senior healthcare consultants do because "management analysts work with managers and other employees of the organizations for which they provide consulting services." Additionally, a senior healthcare consultant resume shows how senior healthcare consultants use interpersonal skills: "achieved exceptional customer service recognition through applying professional interpersonal communicative skills successfully exceeded company objectives through applied sales-driven personality"
Problem-solving skills. Another essential skill to perform senior healthcare consultant duties is problem-solving skills. Senior healthcare consultants responsibilities require that "management analysts must be able to think creatively to solve clients’ problems." Senior healthcare consultants also use problem-solving skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "analyze and map enterprise business processes and recommend workflow improvements or automated solutions. "
Time-management skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of senior healthcare consultants is time-management skills. This skill is critical to many everyday senior healthcare consultant duties, as "management analysts often work under tight deadlines and must use their time efficiently to complete projects on schedule." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "processed over a 1000 medicaid crossover claims in ssi by a deadline. "
Analytical skills. A big part of what senior healthcare consultants do relies on "analytical skills." You can see how essential it is to senior healthcare consultant responsibilities because "management analysts must be able to interpret information and use their findings to make proposals." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior healthcare consultant tasks: "spearhead and implemented an automation database to increase both productivity and revenue for a home healthagency network. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in senior healthcare consultant job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what senior healthcare consultants do. Senior healthcare consultant responsibilities rely on this skill because "management analysts must be able to convey information clearly in both writing and speaking." You can also see how senior healthcare consultant duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "champion effective communication during go-live phase in an effort to minimize impact on business operations. "
The three companies that hire the most senior healthcare consultants are:
- Guidehouse296 senior healthcare consultants jobs
- Deloitte156 senior healthcare consultants jobs
- UnitedHealth Group30 senior healthcare consultants jobs
Compare different senior healthcare consultants
Senior healthcare consultant vs. Data analyst
Data analysts are responsible for interpreting the company's statistics and providing sound recommendations to the organization. They manage the organization's data sets, usually related to market performance, finance, or human resources. They are in charge of studying the available data, spotting trends, interpreting what the data and the trends mean, and recommending suggestions that will help the organization perform better. Their recommendations should also be relevant and backed up with strong analyses. Data analysts are expected to have a good grasp of the current market trends in the industry.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior healthcare consultants and data analyst. For instance, senior healthcare consultant responsibilities require skills such as "project management," "veterans," "client relationships," and "client facing." Whereas a data analyst is skilled in "python," "power bi," "data management," and "data quality." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Data analysts really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $86,172. Comparatively, senior healthcare consultants tend to make the most money in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $97,810.The education levels that data analysts earn slightly differ from senior healthcare consultants. In particular, data analysts are 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior healthcare consultant. Additionally, they're 2.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior healthcare consultant vs. Analyst
Analysts are employees or individual contributors with a vast experience in a particular field that help the organization address challenges. They help the organization improve processes, policies, and other operations protocol by studying the current processes in place and determining the effectiveness of those processes. They also research industry trends and data to make sound inferences and recommendations on what the company should do to improve their numbers. Analysts recommend business solutions and often help the organization roll out these solutions. They ensure that the proposed action plans are effective and produce the desired results.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior healthcare consultant responsibilities requires skills like "veterans," "client relationships," "client facing," and "sql." But an analyst might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "troubleshoot," "management system," and "strong analytical."
Analysts may earn a lower salary than senior healthcare consultants, but analysts earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $79,330. On the other hand, senior healthcare consultants receive higher pay in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $97,810.analysts earn lower levels of education than senior healthcare consultants in general. They're 5.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior healthcare consultant vs. Program management consultant
A program management consultant is responsible for analyzing project requirements based on clients' specifications, developing quality improvement techniques, and reviewing project deliverables. Program management consultants work closely with the project team to identify project initiatives and resolve complexities that may arise. They also inspect the resources and materials to be utilized during the project and determine cost-reduction processes without compromising quality and efficiency. A program management consultant coordinates with the clients for progress updates and informs them of any plan adjustments as needed.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior healthcare consultant is likely to be skilled in "veterans," "client relationships," "sql," and "data analysis," while a typical program management consultant is skilled in "customer service," "management program," "healthcare," and "scrum."
Program management consultants earn the best pay in the technology industry, where they command an average salary of $107,612. Senior healthcare consultants earn the highest pay from the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $97,810.program management consultants typically earn similar educational levels compared to senior healthcare consultants. Specifically, they're 2.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior healthcare consultant vs. Business consultant
A business consultant is an individual who works directly with business owners on developing a business plan and identifying their marketing needs. Business consultants offer business owners a wide range of services, such as supplementing existing staff, provide expertise in a specific market, and influencing other people. To increase revenue in business, business consultants should have experience success with the previous business owners. Business consultants must also have a bachelor's degree in business management and received years of field training.
Types of senior healthcare consultant
Updated January 8, 2025
