Clinical Research Finance Administrator

Position Summary:

The Clinical Research Finance Administrator facilitates accurate and compliant budgeting and financial activities for all clinical research studies at the university. Works closely with research teams and study sponsors to ensure timely and compliant study activation. Oversees the day-to-day clinical trial patient payment system and Sponsored Project Administration (SPA) (debit) Card Program. Manages the clinical trial salary recharge processing and reporting. These employees develop and administer procedures to comply with applicable regulations governing clinical research. This requires knowledge of how a research study works and how to set up the correct billing variants, which may include patient charges, insurance claims, and costs passed off to the research project's budget. UTHealth is preparing to transition to Epic's electronic health record software, so any experience with Epic will be a plus for candidates. The clinical research administrators will help load studies into this new program and will have to make sure it all works as it is supposed to,ensure it works as intended as outlined by study protocols and billing requirements. They will also perform periodic audits of these processes and train clinical staff on how to correctly enter charges or research procedures.

This is a full-time, exempt role. You will be eligible for all UTHealth benefits, including healthcare coverage and participation in a pension plan run by the State of Texas. Your office will be in the heart of the Texas Medical Center in our University Center Tower located at Fannin and Pressler. This building is located on both Metro's bus and rail lines and offers many parking and commuting options. Currently, this staff works a hybrid schedule which consists of one day in the office and four days working remotely. During training, you may be in the office more frequently, but you should be able to transition to this hybrid model once you are up and running.

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas’ resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That’s where you come in.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It’s because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you’d expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year)
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you’ll accrue!
• Longevity Pay (Monthly payments after two years of service)
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan!

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees’ wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as...

• Free financial and legal counseling
• Free mental health counseling services
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc.
• Resources for child and elder care
• Plus many more!

Position Key Accountabilities:

• Develops and maintains strong relationships with study team members to ensure accurate and complete study financial activities. Provides daily, one-on-one guidance and instruction to study team members regarding study budgeting, Sponsored Project Administration (SPA) Card participant payment program, salary recharge processing, and study closeout.
• Reviews, analyzes, and approves internal study budgets. Provides day-to-day guidance and instruction to research study coordinators on developing study budgets.
• Conducts proper patient billing risk assessments through review of study protocols and approval of coverage analyses. Identifies studies that will generate patient bills/research study charges through EPIC to mitigate university billing risk for clinical research.
• Maintains the day-to-day activities of salary and fringe benefits expensing to clinical trials (Salary Recharge Program). This includes maintaining a salary recharge worksheet of all active clinical trials to generate expenses based on revenue received. Ensures timely and accurate updates to the worksheet and monthly journal entry posting.
• Maintains the day-to-day activities of the SPA (debit) Card Program to pay study participants. Establishes new studies in the RedCap system, processes SPA Card orders/assigns cards to studies. Provides guidance and instruction to study coordinators on properly tracking and issuing payments to study participants. Runs and analyzes reports to ensure data quality and integrity.
• Determines which study protocols are sent to 3rd third-party contractor to document and complete coverage analyses. Tracks contractor invoicing and processes monthly journal entries to allocate contractor fees to individual studies
• Reviews and distributes monthly salary recharge reports to departments. Reviews, approves, and processes all department reconciliation journals.
• Receives, approves, and processes study balance transfer and closeout requests. Assesses revenue, to budget and expenses, and completes journal entry to close.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Education:

At least a Bachelor's Degree in Healthcare Administration, Business, Finance, Accounting, or a related degree is required.

Minimum Experience:

2 years of related experience required. We prefer actual clinical research experience, but will consider working with research in some capacity, such as observational research and data collection.

Security Sensitive:

This position is a security-sensitive position pursuant to Texas Education Code §51.215 and Texas Government Code §411.094. To the extent that a position requires the holder to research, work on, or have access to critical infrastructure as defined in Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.001(2), the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure is a minimum qualification to be hired for and to continue to be employed in that position. Personnel in such positions, and similarly situated state contractors, will be routinely reviewed to determine whether things such as criminal history or continuous connections to the government or political apparatus of a foreign adversary might prevent the applicant, employee, or contractor from being able to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure. A foreign adversary is a nation listed in 15 C.F.R. §791.4.

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas. This is currently a hybrid role.