Patient Access Manager - Midwest

Role Summary

Patient Access Manager (PAM) at Acadia, a field-based expert supporting healthcare providers in navigating access and reimbursement for therapies. Acts as a liaison among healthcare providers, specialty pharmacies, payers, patients, hub services, and internal teams to remove barriers to care. Travel is frequent; this is a non-promotional role compliant with Rules of Engagement.

Responsibilities

• Proactively educate healthcare providers on navigating programs, processes, and access-related requirements to facilitate patient access to ACADIA products via in-person and virtual interactions.
• Serve as the subject matter expert in preventing and addressing access and reimbursement issues through education, problem-solving, and issue resolution ensuring solutions are optimized to support the patient’s access journey and deliver excellent customer experience.
• Proactively build and maintain access-related relationships with HCP accounts and their office support staff.
• Demonstrate deep market knowledge and apply this to navigating the patient access process, building and maintaining access-related knowledge, and supporting coverage and reimbursement requirements.
• Conduct proactive in-services with HCPs on all aspects of the access journey, including but not limited to coverage pathways, prior authorization, specialty pharmacy coordination, appeals, hub resources, and patient support services.
• Escalate local payer issues to National Account Managers and PAM Leads.
• Condense complex issues into simple solutions by collaborating cross-functionally to improve customer experience, educate HCPs/Office Staff on coverage status, prior authorization, and appeals.
• Demonstrate deep knowledge of ACADIA customer support programs and serve as the expert in the assigned territory.
• Provide proactive pre-referral educational in-services to prevent coverage barriers before referral.
• Provide post-referral support to HCP offices by addressing education needs, pulling through access and coverage for patients, and coordinating with ACADIA customer support programs and specialty pharmacies to monitor referral status
• Support continuity of patient access by proactively educating HCP offices on reauthorization requirements, assisting with payer transitions, and offering program services to minimize therapy interruptions.
• Facilitate patient reimbursement and affordability by guiding offices through prior authorizations, appeals, and financial support options.
• Build relationships with pharmacy staff and share key insights.
• Provide expertise on regional and national payer plans to team members and PAM Leads.
• Support development and implementation of national-level initiatives to improve access and reimbursement strategies across brands.
• Champion and manage appropriate utilization of patient support services and ensure compliance with legal/regulatory requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; life sciences concentration preferred. Advanced degrees (RN, MSN, MBA) a plus.
• Minimum of 4+ years in pharmaceutical sales, market access, national accounts, or specialty pharmacy with deep expertise in access and reimbursement strategies.
• Medicare expertise strongly preferred with strong field environment understanding.
• Equivalent combination of education and experience considered.

Skills

• Track record of increased responsibilities; strong cross-functional collaboration; success in leading without authority.
• Experience with provider offices such as physician practices or patient assistance programs preferred.
• Patient-centric mindset with strong interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills.
• High emotional intelligence, empathy, and organizational/time-management skills.
• Understanding of HIPAA; proficient with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Ability to manage expenses within budgets; adaptable to change; team-oriented.
• Ability to travel up to 60%.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required; concentration in life sciences preferred. Advanced degrees (RN, MSN, MBA) are a plus.

Additional Requirements

• Regular stand/walk/sit and use of hands; ability to lift up to 20 pounds occasionally.