Director, Capacity Management in Valhalla, New York at Westchester Medical Center

Job Summary: Reporting to the VP, Associate Chief Logistics Officer, the Director of Capacity Management provides operational, clinical, and administrative leadership for patient placement, capacity management, and related clinical logistics functions across the health network. This role ensures safe, timely, and appropriate patient placement while optimizing bed utilization, throughput, patient access, and standardized workflows across sites of care. The Director also provides operational support for the Central Monitoring Unit and Virtual Sitter programs, including staffing support, workflow standardization, escalation management, technology optimization, performance monitoring, and collaboration with clinical and operational leaders to support safe and reliable service delivery. This role serves as a key leader for patient flow, capacity management, surge response, regulatory readiness, quality improvement, and patient safety priorities.

Responsibilities:

• Provide operational and clinical leadership for network patient placement and capacity management functions, including inpatient and behavioral health placement workflows.
• Direct the daily work, coverage, role expectations, productivity standards, and accountability of Capacity Management Coordinators, Nursing Supervisors assigned to Clinical Logistics functions, and other assigned patient placement personnel to ensure consistent 24/7 operations.
• Hire, orient, coach, mentor, evaluate, develop, recruit, retain, and support assigned staff while participating in workforce planning, position control, scheduling, staffing model development, budget planning, resource needs, departmental priorities, and operational readiness planning.
• Ensure patients are placed in the most appropriate available bed based on level of care, provider orders, isolation needs, clinical status, geography, service-line requirements, special population considerations, and established patient placement guidelines.
• Oversee bed assignment and patient flow activity for all points of entry requiring a bed, including Emergency Departments, Cath Lab, Operating Room, PACU, direct admissions, elective admissions, internal transfers, and interfacility transfers.
• Develop, implement, and maintain standardized workflows, placement criteria, escalation pathways, bed management processes, communication expectations, and site-specific requirements across network facilities.
• Partner with Transfer Center leadership, medical directors, nursing leadership, hospital operations, Infection Prevention, and clinical teams to facilitate timely transfers, appropriate cohorting, and safe placement decisions.
• Lead real-time capacity management during high census, surge events, operational constraints, bed shortages, and urgent placement barriers, escalating issues and coordinating mitigation strategies with appropriate leadership.
• Monitor bed availability, blocked beds, discharge activity, pending transfers, procedural demand, ED boarding, placement delays, and throughput opportunities using operational dashboards and key performance indicators.
• Prepare and present patient placement, capacity, and throughput updates to department leadership and operational stakeholders, highlighting trends, barriers, escalation needs, and opportunities for action.
• Lead workflow redesign, performance improvement initiatives, and corrective action plans to improve patient access, placement timeliness, bed utilization, transfer placement time, discharge barriers, and overall throughput.
• Partner with Case Management, Social Work, Nursing, EVS, Transport, unit leadership, and operational stakeholders to improve discharge readiness, bed turnover, timely transitions of care, and patient progression.
• Provide operational oversight and support for the Central Monitoring Unit and Virtual Sitter programs, including staffing coordination, workflow standardization, escalation management, technology optimization, service reliability, and performance monitoring.
• Partner with clinical, nursing, digital health, and operational leaders to support virtual monitoring workflows, related telehealth-enabled operations, patient safety escalation processes, staff education, and continuous improvement of remote observation services.
• Support regulatory and accreditation readiness by ensuring patient placement and virtual monitoring processes align with internal standards, patient safety expectations, documentation requirements, and applicable regulatory guidance; performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications/Requirements:

Experience:

• 7 years of experience in a clinical health care setting, where the primary function was supervision and administration of complex clinical processes/operations, required
• 2+ years in leadership role, preferred
• Experience with leading multidisciplinary teams and managing complex operational workflows in a fast-paced acute care environment, preferred

Education:

• Graduate from an Accredited School of Nursing, required.
• Bachelor's degree in nursing, preferred

Licenses / Certifications:

• Possession of a valid license and current registration, issued by the New York State Department of Education, as a Registered Professional Nurse, required.

Other:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with physicians, nursing leaders, clinical teams, and operational stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills and experience using data to identify trends, evaluate performance, and support operational decision-making.
• Knowledge of healthcare regulations, patient safety principles, quality improvement methods, and accreditation readiness requirements.
• Strong customer service orientation with a focus on improving patient experience, access to care, and throughput efficiency.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while maintaining professionalism, accountability, and attention to detail.

Special Requirements: N/A

Physical Requirements:

1. Physical Activity (please check one box):

Sedentary Work (involves sitting most of the time, occasionally walking and standing; requires lifting no more than 10 pounds at a time and/or occasionally lifting or carrying objects)

Light Work (involves lifting no more than 20 pounds at a time with frequent lifting or carrying of objects

weighing up to 10 pounds; requires moderate mobility to different work locations)