Dental Contract Manager Des Moines Polk

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Division of Medicaid, Bureau of Contracting is seeking a Dental Contract Manager to join our team!

This key position directs all Medicaid Dental program management and oversight, including the Dental Wellness Plan, Dental Wellness Plan‑Kids, and Fee‑for‑Service (FFS). This position manages the initial development and execution of approximately $75 M in contracts for the Prepaid Ambulatory Health Plans (PAHPs). These contracts establish Medicaid health plan dental provider network(s), inclusive of specialty providers. The Dental Contract Manager (E02) provides oversight for the continual performance compliance of PAHPs.

The Dental Contract Manager provides the requisite program oversight and coordination for all aspects of the PAHPs in support of the Medicaid dental program. The position activities will ensure synchronization of performance management and ensure efficiencies, minimize or avoid duplication of efforts and support the dental goals. This position is a key advisor to executive leadership and will make day‑to‑day decisions to ensure that the PAHPs are contractually compliant and consistent providing reliable dental care to Iowa's Medicaid managed care members.

The Dental Contract Manager is a liaison between the PAHPs and Iowa Medicaid and is the point of contact coordinating and approving communications. This position will also interact with sister agencies in addition to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulators.

The Iowa Medicaid Dental Contract Manager oversees and approves FFS dental services and is the liaison for the Managed Care Plans (MCPs) contractual dental service agreements. The Iowa Medicaid Dental Contract Manager is responsible for collaborating with Iowa Medicaid Dental policy SMEs to develop procedures that apply to both managed care and/or FFS.

The Iowa Medicaid Dental Contract Manager must continually forecast, assess trends and identify emerging issues that may have potential federal/national impact, and will source best Medicaid dental practices.

As a leader within the organization, this position interacts and is a key player in activities that involve representatives from the community, business interests, politics, national agencies, federal agencies, and service providers.

• Provides accurate, timely and consistent responses and ensures that communication minimizes misinterpretation and misunderstanding of contractual terms or expectations.
• Establishes procedure and methodology for providing input and reporting areas of program vulnerabilities.
• Identifies/clarifies issues or concerns and provides/proposes potential solutions to minimize or avoid issuance of corrective actions.
• Contacts appropriate internal or external staff to obtain supplemental information.
• Assimilates information or data into accurate, consistent response(s) that comply with contract, federal state law and general guidelines to meet written or verbal agency responses, or to comply with federal reporting requirements.
• Reviews and approves all related communications involving PAHPs for both the Iowa Medicaid FFS or the MCPs.
• Provides technical assistance and actively participates in initial and ongoing contract negotiations to assure that state needs are adequately represented; utilizes knowledge of programmatic, budgetary and federal/state requirements.
• Drafts informal and formal materials based on best practice, past performance issues, and evolving state needs or agency direction(s).
• Provides technical assistance to agency legal counsel and Iowa Medicaid or agency leadership.
• Develops initial and continually modifies or approves dental standard…