DIRECTOR, AMBULATORY OPERATIONS in Chicago, Illinois at Sinai Chicago

About Us: At Sinai Health System d/b/a Sinai Chicago, we take health care personally. Excellence in health care is about more than just medicine, technology, tests, and treatments, it is about really caring for people with dignity and respect. That is what we do. We are dedicated to providing the best care to meet the needs of people, for our community, for our patients and for you. Position Purpose: The role of Director of Ambulatory Operations is wide-ranging with broad responsibilities and a span of control requiring significant experience and demonstrated success. The successful candidate will have demonstrated proficiency with practice operations, leadership and change management, planning and implementation, reporting and accountability, finance and budget management, personnel management, patient access and experience, regulation and compliance, organizational development and relationship building. Sinai Medical Group is similarly broad in the array of services it provides through its 34 specialties delivered at multiple sites, some of which are at other provider college institutions, and the clinicians it deploys derive not only from Sinai Medical Group but from other college institutions across the city. It is a role that confers great responsibility and autonomy while expecting great performance and accountability. It is a role that is highly rewarding and personally and professionally satisfying as we serve a community in great need of the finest health care services available anywhere. The position reports to the Vice President of Operations for Sinai Medical Group. The managers of the clinics report directly to the Director of Ambulatory Operations. Sinai Chicago is a private safety-net health system. The North Campus includes Mount Sinai Hospital, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, Ogden Commons Out-patient Center, multiple clinics, Sinai Urban Health Institute, and Sinai Community Institute. The South Campus includes Holy Cross Hospital and multiple clinics.

• Key Job Activities: Practice Operations  Responsibilities

Directs ambulatory operations to optimize patient care and supports organizational goals.

o Directs improvements to patient-centered operations and technology processes.

o Drives Sinai Medical Group-wide internal and external strategic projects designed to remediate issues for impacted groups and improve quality, service, affordability, and/or operating efficiency.

o Makes recommendations and implements solutions to improve the performance of operations system processes.

o Consults with senior and executive management to identify relevant performance metrics to monitor the success of strategic improvement projects.

o Partners with revenue cycle to optimize charging, coding and reimbursement opportunities. sinaichicago.org

o Oversees quality metric processes, procedures, reporting and goals to ensure workflows align with system goals.

• Key Activities

o Ensures clinical teams use standardized tools to identify root causes of escalations.

o Collaborates with the revenue cycle department, providers and staff to optimize charge capture, billing and coding operations in all practice locations.

o Responsibility for quality improvement activities, monitoring and achieving goals in all practices and specialties, including but not limited to care gaps, specialty metrics and compliance with all system-wide initiatives.

o Reviews and aligns equipment and supplies across clinic locations, including EPIC integration where possible.

o Reviews and aligns supply chain management across clinic locations.

o Reviews and fixes charge capture and registration work queue errors and provides feedback and training to providers and caregivers as necessary.

o Reviews and monitors quality metric goals and device plans to workflows, barriers and challenges to meet system goals. Leadership and Change Management 

Responsibilities

o Develops and/or directs strategy with stakeholders to identify factors contributing to business value.

o Ensures and develops standardized care delivery.

o Guides performance and develops contingency plans accordingly. 

• Key Activities

o Partners with physicians and other clinical leaders to align key care delivery initiatives across Sinai Health System

o Provides oversight of all work streams

o Develops and documents standardized workflows to improve patient flow, schedule utilization, charge capture and patient access

o Ensures teams accomplish business objectives Planning and Implementation.

Responsibilities

o Directs improvements in operations and technology processes, defining standards for clinical teams to identify and address root causes, and implementing solutions.

o Oversees the operation of multiple units within a department by identifying member and operational needs.

o Gains cross-functional support for business plans and priorities.

o Participates in capital planning. 

Key Activities

o Ensures products and/or services meet member requirements and expectations while aligning with organizational strategies.

o Analyzes resources, costs, and forecasts and incorporates them into business plans.

o Prioritizes and distributes resources.

o Utilizes standardized processes and checklist for new clinics, service lines and new operational workflows. Reporting and Accountability  Responsibilities sinaichicago.org

o Oversees the development and implementation of long-term plans, policies, and processes for data gathering and analysis. o Assumes accountability for department performance targets assigned by leadership.

o Assumes accountability for short and long-term results and performance while ensuring guideline and regulation alignment for service lines or programs.

o Drives cross-functional patient management resolution with internal and external leaders.

o Anticipates and aligns resources in clinical areas to ensure appropriate assignment and utilization for service lines or programs.

o Translates business strategy into actionable business requirements.

o Assumes responsibility for decision-making

• Key Activities

o Directs multidisciplinary ambulatory team(s) and holding team(s) accountable for performance.

o Plans long-term strategic goals and designs emergency preparedness programs and ensures the department emergency preparedness and recovery plan are current and that managers and staff are trained and know what is expected during and after an emergency.

o Provides strategic direction to project teams leading initiatives and ensuring implementation, equitable distribution of resources, and delivery on objectives.

o Ensures the management of work assignment completion.

o Sets standards, measures progress, and fosters resolution of escalated issues.

o Removes obstacles that impact performance.

o Communicates goals and objectives to providers and caregivers. Finance and Budget Management 

Responsibilities

o Oversee budget and expenditures and ensure overall financial performance meets expectations

o Lead the development of budgets for assigned areas (e.g., clinic supplies, staffing, business services departments) and ensuring overall financial performance meets expectations

o Ensure resources are appropriate based on volumes, productivity and expected/planned operational activities. Align resources to ensure efficient assignment and utilization.

Key Activities

o Monitor operational budgets and ensure that variance responses and action plans are devised and implemented to meet organization expectations and deadlines.

o Maintain accurate FTE activity reporting and ensure productivity aligns with resource allocation Personnel Management •

• Responsibilities

o Aligns human resource management programs (e.g., performance measurement and employee management) with Sinai Medical Group’s mission and values.

o Prepares individuals for growth opportunities and advancement.

o Drives collaboration to set goals and provide open feedback and coaching to foster performance improvement.

o Demonstrates continuous learning. o Oversee recruitment, selection, and development of talent.

o Stay up to date with organizational best practices, processes, benchmarks, and industry trends.

o Shares best practices within and across teams. sinaichicago.org

o Maintains a highly skilled and engaged workforce by aligning resource plans with business objectives.

o Maintains high levels of caregiver engagement and meets goals for caregiver satisfaction. 

• Key Activities

o Builds internal collaborative networks for self and others.

o Solicits and acts on performance feedback.

o Ensures performance management guidelines and expectations achieve business needs.

o Ensures caregiver compliance with all institutional policies and procedures.

o Motivates and empowers teams.

o Provides guidance when difficult decisions need to be made; creates opportunities for expanded scope of decision making and impact.

o Performs performance reviews and provides regular feedback and suggestions to employee.

o Engages with caregivers through regular staff meetings, promotes completion of caregiver engagement surveys and opportunities. Patient Access and Experience

Responsibilities

o Directs ambulatory operations to support patient care

o Assumes accountability for department performance targets and aligns with market strategies.

o Champions short and long-term operational initiatives and directs program, services, and/or systems development.

o Provides leadership and oversight of provider schedules and template optimization to ensure productivity goal alignment as well as optimal resource utilization. 

• Key Activities

o Approves timelines and develops and/or directs strategy with stakeholders to identify factors contributing to business value

o Partners with other stakeholders to improve and grow patient access opportunities, including but not limited to IT, central scheduling and other key strategic service lines to align with system goals.

o Monitors and reviews provider schedules to ensure access goals and scheduling opportunities.

o Utilizes EMR functionality to optimize productivity.

Monitors and improves patient throughput. Regulation and Compliance

• Responsibilities

o Directs survey readiness activities to maintain compliance with regulatory standards and prepares audit documentation.

o Directs continuous survey and compliance readiness activities, including mock rounds and mitigating issues.

o Maintains compliance and regulatory standards and reviews prepared audit documentation, information, and reports. o Directs multidisciplinary clinical teams and designs comprehensive emergency preparedness programs.

• Key Activities

o Conducts regular, random mock surveys to ensure compliance with all regulations and policies.

o Collaborates with departments to ensure compliance with safety, building, and operational requirements and needs. sinaichicago.org o Monitors compliance with related checklists and documentation to ensure compliance with policies and procedures.

o Ensures compliance and resolution with various reporting requirements such as occurrence reporting, life/safety citations and organizational e-learning deadlines. Organizational Development and Relationship Building

• Responsibilities

o Represents the ambulatory team in various system-wide activities and initiatives.

o Builds collaborations with internal partners in various departments and service lines to participate in achieving goals and objectives.

• Key Activities

o Partners with service lines to collaborate in key strategic areas to meet and exceed goals.

o Develops forums to help solve problems and/or partner with areas that directly impact ambulatory objectives and goals. Objectives to Achieve Year 1

 Develops standardized workflows across ambulatory locations

 Ensures charge capture audits are in place and reimbursement is optimized for services provided in clinic locations

 Optimization of provider schedules

 Increases quality numbers to meet or exceed goals through standardized workflows in Years 2 and 3

 Quality metrics are met with standardized workflows

 Aligns equipment across clinic locations including POC testing

 Develops a standardization training program for caregivers to ensure data integrity and metric accuracy

 Develops standard metrics and canned reporting to report appointment metrics Year 4 and beyond

 Standard onboarding/offboarding provider process that aligns with training, metrics, quality goals and documentation

 Standardized clinic equipment and space allocation/needs – a floor plan that is standardized for all existing and future clinics

 Revenue cycle feedback, response and review to accurately capture existing and new services that optimize reimbursement proactively  Performs other duties as assigned.

Education and Work Experience:

 Bachelor’s degree in a business, nursing, health care, or healthcare or public health field

 Minimum seven (7) years of experience in business operations, clinical health care, or a healthcare or public health related field OR Minimum ten (10) years of experience in business operations, clinical health care, or a healthcare or public health related field

 Minimum two (2) years of experience managing operational or project budgets

 Minimum two (2) years of experience in a leadership role with direct reports

 Minimum five (5) years of customer or member/patient service experience