Admissions Specialist

Admissions Specialist

Reports To: Admissions Manager

Position(s) Supervised: None

FLSA Classification: Non-Exempt

Work Location: St Paul, MN

Hours: 9:00a - 5:30p or 8:30a - 5:00p Monday through Friday

occasional on call hours evenings and weekends

Pay Range: $24.00 - $27.00 per hour plus eligible for bonus incentives

JOB SUMMARY:

The Admissions Specialist plays a key role in converting inquiries, referrals, and completed assessments into active client enrollment by serving as a confident, responsive, and service-oriented first point of contact for individuals, families, and referral sources. This position is responsible for guiding prospective clients through the admissions process, explaining the value of assessment and treatment services, addressing questions or hesitation, identifying barriers to engagement, and maintaining proactive follow-up until a clear outcome is reached.

This role requires strong phone presence, persuasive and compassionate communication, comfort initiating outreach, the ability to build trust quickly, and the discipline to track each lead from first contact through assessment, admission, decline, or loss of contact. In addition to admissions conversion responsibilities, the position supports intake paperwork, client and insurance verification, scheduling, documentation in Ritten, medical records coordination, and other administrative tasks that support a smooth transition into recommended services.

PRIMARY JOB DUTIES:

• Respond to incoming calls, referrals, emails, and other admissions inquiries with urgency, professionalism, and a focus on helping prospective clients take the next step toward assessment or enrollment.

• Lead consultative admissions conversations by askingappropriate questions, understanding client needs and barriers, explaining the value of assessment and services, addressing hesitation or uncertainty, and helping prospective clients move towarda timelydecision without pressure.

• Return missedcalls,after-hours voicemails, faxes, and emailsin a timely mannerto keep intake and admissions activity moving.

• Initiate outbound admissions follow-up calls, respond to service and next-step questions, andmaintainconsistent contact with prospective clients, referral sources, and internal staff to prevent leads from stalling in the intake process.

• Own follow-up for prospective clients who havenot yet committed, missed a scheduled step, or completed an assessment but have not started recommended services; continue outreach until the individual enrolls, clearly declines, is redirected appropriately, or is no longer responsive.

• Track each inquiry, referral, assessment, and follow-up activity throughfinal outcome, including contact attempts, barriers discussed, client decisions, referral updates, and next steps needed to support conversion to enrollment.

• Provide proactive client follow-up related to intake, scheduling,late ormissedprogramming,and nextsteps;communicate updates to staff or management and document updates in Ritten.

• Coordinate schedulingand intakeactivitieswith efficiency, urgency,and attention to detail.

• Complete intake-related client communicationinan accurate,professional, and welcomingmanner.

• Obtain signatures from clients as needed.

• Use computer-basedsystemsto verifyclient demographic, insurance, intake, and referralinformation.

• Understand and communicate benefitor coveragechanges toclientsor refer toappropriatebillingresources.

• Collect co-pay or deductibles and respond to questionsregardingfinancialassistanceprograms available. Defer complex questions as needed.

• Upload, organize, and trackclient intake paperwork in theelectronic health record system, Ritten.

• MonitorRitten multiple times daily, upload faxes, manage incoming client records and miscellaneous documents,submitdocumentationto client charts, andnotifytheprimary counselor orappropriate staffwhen follow-up is needed.

• Upload authorizations andsubmitthem via email to the billing specialist.

• Fulfill requests for medical records.

• Identifypatterns in lost leads, missed appointments, or stalled admissions andcommunicatebarriers, trends, and opportunities for improvement to the Admissions Manager.

• Support general administrative needs of the admissions area, including limited front-office coverage,openingand closing the facility when needed, and office supply coordination.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• Excellent written,verbal, phone, customer service, and listening skills.

• Possess maturity, patience,understandingand empathy with clients and staff.

• Ability tomulti-task,stay productive in a fast-paced intake environment,handle stress, de-escalate, and problem solve.

• Strong facilitation, negotiation, investigation, and mediation skills.

• High-energy, proactive, approachable, and comfortable initiating contact with clients, referral sources, and internal team members.

• Comfortable with consultative sales conversations, lead follow-up, overcoming hesitation, and moving prospective clients toward a clear decision.

• Ability to balance warmth, empathy, and professionalism with persistence, urgency, and accountability for admissions outcomes.