Business Solution Manager (Vendor Management) I/II- 005520 (Finance)

Summary:

The Business Solutions Manager role owns the vendor relationship and is accountable for the performance of vendors within the division and the Health Plan. This position will lead the identification and selection of vendors through maintaining industry contacts, directs the Request for Proposal (RFP) process, partners with Finance on the financial details of the contract, and partners with Legal to ensure the corporation is protected by the contract. Additionally, this position ensures all vendor processes and interfaces are compliant with State, Federal, and BCBS Association insurance requirements and works with cross-functional teams to lead the development; negotiation, execution and governance of supplier arrangements to ensure realization of the expected value from the relationship. In addition, this position acts as the main point of contact for all division vendors and owns the on-going organization-wide relationship and governance with the vendor(s) to ensure vendor performance meets contractual and customer expectations.

This position is also accountable for the business incident, interruption and/or complex critical issues management.  It is responsible for change and business interruption/problem management which includes, but not limited to, the development, implementation, monitoring and administration of processes and procedures.  Ensures change and problem/interruption management processes are communicated and adhered to across the organization.

Essential Responsibilities/Accountabilities

Level I:

• Leads strategic vendor outsourcing arrangements and develops all communications related for the potential sourcing arrangement.
• Leads vendor identification, evaluation, negotiation, selection, contracting, implementation, and on-going management of supplier initiatives.  Receives, reviews, and distributes all required “Request For…” documents.
• Leads all re-negotiation and/or termination activities related to vendor relationships.
• Owns all aspects of the vendor relationship for multiple vendors to ensure vendor performance is meeting contractual and customer expectations.
• Ensures each vendor is being managed using standard governance processes including Quarterly Business reviews, vendor scorecards, escalation process, etc.
• Works directly with business delivery managers and Health Plan leadership to ensure business needs are being met by the vendors.
• Acts as the liaison between internal teams (Operational Excellence, EIT, Finance, Sourcing & Contracts, etc.) to support the implementation of contracts and supplier relationships from all workflows. 
• Creates, executes, and monitors processes, protocols, production timeframes, audits and has oversight of Service Level Agreements (SLA).
• Researches supplier spending and formulates cost reduction sourcing strategies to improve efficiency, reduce expenditures, and consolidate the supplier base.
• Manages key relationships with Legal, Risk, IT, Finance and key internal Health Plan-wide organizations to ensure proper review and approval of all contracts with external suppliers.
• Ensures that all contracts are signed by appropriate company officers, in full compliance with delegated authorization limits.
• Serves as a liaison between external suppliers and internal staff to facilitate the evaluation, pricing and introduction of new products/services, problem resolution, corrective action and program development. 
• Monitors vendor performance against Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure internal and external customer quality expectations and production turnaround timeliness metrics are met.
• Maintains, monitors, and reports savings against the Cost/ Benefit Analysis and ensure mitigation of any financial or other risk(s) associated with the vendor accountabilities.
• Conducts business needs analysis against business incident, interruption and/or complex critical issues to determine if area of focus is IT or business-related.
• Assist business areas in process definition and act as consultant to provide recommendation and improve business processes.
• Evaluate, coordinate, and maintain business solutions and supporting processes according to business priorities.
• Facilitates and leads problem management and root cause analysis (RCA) of related business incident, interruption and/or complex critical issues and communication back to business areas.
• Develops and maintains problem management and root cause analysis (RCA) processes and procedures; monitors effectiveness related to business incident, interruption and/or complex critical issues.
• Utilizes problem management metrics and critical success factors to drive continuous improvement in root cause analysis, downtime, required resources and issue avoidance.
• Develop, reports, tracks, resolves, and analyzes root causes of problems and incidents. Ensures proper resources from across the Business and IT organization are assigned for root cause analysis and problem resolution.
• Leverages relevant data from root cause analysis and performance monitoring data to proactively manage and ensure issue is resolved.
• Creates, distributes, and maintains accurate business incident, interruption and/or complex critical issues, reporting updates.
• Creates status, audit, and metrics reports on a monthly and annual basis.
• Obtain and maintain knowledge of incident management regulations, industry standards and operational constraints
• Collaborates to ensure controls and potential audits are in place.
• Facilitates discovery and resolution meetings with the appropriate areas of the organization.
• Facilitates read out meetings with appropriate areas of the organization.
• Creates SLAs specific for business incident, interruption and/or complex critical issues, consistently demonstrates high standards of integrity by supporting the Lifetime Healthcare Companies' mission and values, adhering to the Corporate Code of Conduct, and leading to the Lifetime Way values and beliefs.
• Maintains high regard for member privacy in accordance with the corporate privacy policies and procedures.
• Regular and reliable attendance is expected and required.
• Performs other functions as assigned by management.
• Level II (in addition to Level I essential responsibilities/accountabilities):
• Develops problem management processes and integration points to other processes, such as incident, change, configuration, availability, and event management.
• Uses analytical skills and judgment to identify critical issues that may impact the business units because of an open incident or problem.
• Formulates plans and strategies based on input from subject matter experts to investigate and resolve priority level Business incident, interruption and/or complex critical issues, to include chronic performance problems/impaired services.
• Mentoring and training of staff.
• Coordinates and reports upon annual on-site visits (as needed) to ensure vendor compliance.
• Resolves contractual and pricing issues with supplier executive leadership.
• Ensures final contract documents are consistent with agreements reached at negotiations and implemented for operational governance.
• Coordinates and amends changes into contracts when determined by regulation (i.e. Health Care Reform, ICD-10, recent legislation from NYS DOH, etc.). 
• Monitors and reviews historical spend analysis and budgetary impacts.  Negotiates and develops contracts including all necessary service level agreements.
• Develops supplier performance metrics to monitor and evaluate supplier performance, making recommendations for additions or deletions of suppliers as appropriate.

Minimum Qualifications:

NOTE:

We include multiple levels of classification differentiated by demonstrated knowledge, skills, and the ability to manage increasingly independent and/or complex assignments, broader responsibility, additional decision making, and in some cases, becoming a resource to others. In addition to using this differentiated approach to place new hires, it also provides guideposts for employee development and promotional opportunities.

Level I:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Technology, or related field. In lieu of degree, six (6) years of experience in a related field.  
• Three (3) years related work experience required.
• Proven experience with root cause analysis (RCA)
• Demonstrated proficiency in verbal communication and presentation skills necessary to interact with all levels of the organization.
• Ability to interact and collaboratively work with different levels of the organization.
• Strong Analytical skills, business acumen, team collaboration skills, strong time management, presentation skills, and being highly organized.
• Ability to foster and cultivate effective working relationships.
• Excellent organizational skills are needed to ensure that all resources are allocated and distributed efficiently and that communications are delivered in a timely and concise manner to the appropriate areas with close attention to detail.
• Ability to exercise good judgment, work independently and maintain a high degree of professionalism is essential.
• Experience in working with Service Level Agreements (SLA).
• Knowledgeable of incident management regulations, industry standards and operational constraints. 

Level II (in addition to Level I minimum qualifications):

• Six (6) years of related professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience in negotiating, defining pricing, contract development/ management and vendor management, including monitoring and tracking vendor performance.
• Strong organizational development skills and experience in leading and developing multiple strategic outsourcing/vendor engagements and relationships.
• Ability to identify contractual and supplier management risks and issues; suggest alternatives that lead to the best solution.
• Solid understanding of procurement contracting laws & regulations; including the ability to clearly draft commercial contract terminology.
• Experience with budget management, inventory control, quality control, and cost/benefit analysis.
• Maintains knowledge of regulatory mandates and ensures Health Plan and its vendors, contracts and processes are in compliance with these requirements, SAS 70, and Sarbanes Oxley.
• Excellent leadership, communication, human relations, and negotiation skills with people in all levels of the organization.
• Uses increased analytical skills for inter-department organization for critical problem determination/resolution and RCA.

 Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to work while sitting at a desk viewing a computer, talking and using a keyboard and mouse for 3 or more hours at a time.
• Must be able to travel across the enterprise.

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The Lifetime Healthcare Companies aims to attract the best talent from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and experiential backgrounds, to diversify our workforce and best reflect the communities we serve.

Our mission is to foster an environment where diversity and inclusion are explicitly recognized as fundamental parts of our organizational culture. We believe that diversity of thought and background drives innovation which enables us to provide leading-edge healthcare insurance and services.  With that mission in mind, we recruit the best candidates from all communities, to diversify and strengthen our workforce.

OUR COMPANY CULTURE:

Employees are united by our Lifetime Way Values & Behaviors that include compassion, pride, excellence, innovation and having fun!  We aim to be an employer of choice by valuing workforce diversity, innovative thinking, employee development, and by offering competitive compensation and benefits.

In support of the Americans with Disabilities Act, this job description lists only those responsibilities and qualifications deemed essential to the position.

Equal Opportunity Employer

 

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c) Mgr - Function