[Hiring] Senior Director, Operations @MedAmerica

Role Description

Lead and manage the full psychiatry/behavioral health operations team across all practices and programs.

• Own day-to-day operational performance across all psychiatry practices, driving accountability to key metrics including patient volume, average length of stay (ALOS), and quality benchmarks.
• Develop and execute practice-level operational playbooks, including protocols for new program launches, unit stabilization, and wind-down.
• Identify operational efficiencies, meet regulatory and client expectations, and develop a “best specialty” approach to the defined operational areas.
• Establish and implement operating policies and procedures to maintain compliance with established standards and regulations, and to support client compliance with Joint Commission behavioral health accreditation, CMS Conditions of Participation for psychiatric units, and state behavioral health licensing requirements.
• Responsible for the specialty’s strategic vision, objectives, and attendant policies and procedures for the specialty.
• Implement programs and services to improve specialty operations.
• Collaborate with the internal consulting and implementation teams to integrate start-up processes and improve practice performance.
• Develop and monitor performance metrics and scorecards for the specialty.
• Monitor and manage psychiatric provider productivity targets (psychiatrists, PMHNPs, PAs), including encounter/RVU benchmarks by practice and care setting.
• Oversee ALOS and throughput performance across inpatient psychiatric units and crisis stabilization programs, ensuring compliance with practice-specific contractual standards.
• Track and report on census, admission/discharge volume, bed utilization, and coverage ratios across the portfolio.
• Ensure credentialing and privileging compliance timelines are met for all psychiatric providers across active practices.
• Partner with billing and coding teams to monitor charge capture rates, denial rates, and collections performance – accounting for the specialty’s payer mix and prior-authorization/utilization-review requirements.
• Oversee incident reporting compliance (restraint/seclusion events, elopements, and other patient safety events) and peer review participation rates.
• Monitor practice-level staffing ratios, and flag coverage gaps that create operational, safety, or quality risk.
• Track readmission rates and escalate trends that impact practice performance.
• Set the strategic direction for the psychiatry technology stack – including EHR/behavioral health documentation systems, telepsychiatry platforms, crisis/triage tools, and data integration platforms – ensuring investments align with specialty growth goals and enterprise standards.
• Serve as the sponsor for technology initiatives, partnering with a dedicated IT team to translate clinical and operational priorities into actionable roadmaps, vendor decisions, and implementation plans.
• Champion a data-driven culture by ensuring the specialty has the reporting infrastructure and analytics capabilities needed to monitor performance, identify trends, and inform strategic decisions at the leadership level.
• Drive the strategy for team adoption and implementation of AI tools for efficient and innovative operations.
• Provide direction, performance oversight, and professional development across all direct and indirect reports, including directors, AODs, operations managers, and program consultants.
• Build leadership bench strength and succession plans and coach leaders on running their own teams.
• Partner with recruiting leadership to build and sustain a strong operations talent pipeline.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and collaboration across a geographically distributed team.
• Lead, direct, and review the work of team members to accomplish program initiatives, operational plans, and results within schedule and budget.
• Provide effective performance feedback through recognition, rewards, and corrective action, with the help of People Operations when needed.
• Provide primary input to hiring, termination, promotion, performance, and rewards decisions for direct reports, in line with organizational guidelines.
• Manage the overall specialty P&L, including practice-level and program-level financial performance.
• Oversee the specialty operations budget, including practice-level financial performance, vendor costs, and stipend management.
• Manage key vendor relationships and contracts, including telepsychiatry platforms, staffing agencies, and scheduling tools.
• Identify cost inefficiencies and develop strategies to address financial and operational risks early.
• Build business cases for new resources, positions, or investments.
• Lead the ongoing integration of new practices and programs into the Vituity operating model, aligning culture, processes, and systems.
• Collaborate with the growth team to build proformas and proposals for new contracts.
• Partner with data analytics, contracts, compliance, and clinical leadership to support specialty growth and new practice launches.
• Represent operations in leadership forums and serve as a key partner to the executive team on strategic initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Healthcare Management, Public Health, or a related field required.
• 8-10 years of progressive operations management experience, including leadership of multi-level teams required.
• At least five (5) years in psychiatry or behavioral health required OR a combination of education and experience that demonstrates the attainment of the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Management, Public Health, or related field preferred.
• Lean certification preferred.
• Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) preferred.
• Experience working in healthcare, physician specialty management, and/or multi-location operations preferred.
• Experience working in a hospital or inpatient behavioral health setting preferred.
• Strong knowledge of healthcare management, ideally encompassing both hospital-based and physician specialty management experience.
• Working knowledge of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health care delivery models, including crisis stabilization, consult-liaison, and telepsychiatry.
• Familiarity with involuntary hold and civil commitment processes and the regulatory environment governing psychiatric care.
• Knowledge of physicians’ clinical, management, and leadership roles in the healthcare environment in order to assist physician group clients in developing a competitive advantage in their marketplace.
• Ability to rapidly assess needs and deliver solutions (results-oriented).
• Ability to rapidly deploy a variety of resources to address problem areas.
• Knowledge of payer contracting and utilization review dynamics unique to behavioral health, and their impact on the physician specialty.
• Knowledge of performance measures and medical-legal considerations affecting psychiatric/behavioral health practice, including revenue cycle management, payer contracting, clinical practice standards, and risk areas such as restraint/seclusion and patient safety events.
• Strong analytical skills, creative conceptualization, collaborative management ability, and polished interpersonal skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing; effective and persuasive communication at all levels.
• Strong knowledge of computer systems, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook).
• Team player who works with physician partners in addition to building effective practice service teams.
• Ability to motivate and develop the potential of others.
• Ability to remain organized while multi-tasking in a fast-paced environment.

Benefits

• Superior health plan options.
• Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA, Life and AD&D coverage, and more.
• Top Tier 401(k) retirement savings plans that offers a $1.20 match for every dollar up to 6% plus discretionary profit-sharing contributions (eligible January following 18 months of service).
• Generous paid time off starting 3-4 weeks’ annually.
• Student Loan Refinancing Discounts.
• Professional and Career Development Program.
• EAP and travel assistance included.
• Wellness program.
• Purpose-driven culture focused on improving the lives of our patients, communities, and employees.