Associate Director, Clinical Practice Operations

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule: 9AM-5PM, M-F
• Building: 1111 Westchester Ave, NY
• Salary Range: 130,000 -145,000

Position Summary

The Associate Director of Clinical Practice Operations works closely with senior leadership to provide operational leadership and overall management, supervision and development of existing and new assigned FPO ambulatory clinical practices and ensure that patient excellence standards are consistent across all locations, leading the practices in a manner that delivers optimal patient, provider, and staff experience across all assigned sites.

Responsibilities

Practice Operations

• Partners with operational leadership and Medical Director as appropriate to develop and drive practice optimization efforts geared towards a consistent, efficient, safe and patient-centered ambulatory medical practice visit for assigned sites.
• Ensure standard operations and a consistent patient experience across all assigned FPO ambulatory clinical practice sites. Executes on expectations across all assigned sites. Maintains standardization across assigned sites as appropriate. Ensures communication is cascaded throughout organization/unit and adopted accordingly.
• Demonstrates visibility and builds trust among team members; seeks opportunities to reward and recognize staff, fosters strong team cohesiveness within own area of responsibility.
• Works collaboratively with providers, administrative and clinical managers, and staff to ensure the achievement of practice-wide operational and financial goals/metrics. Develops all strategies in the area/functions assigned ensuring organizational guidelines and policies are standardized across all clinical sites.
• Directly supervises operational workflows and ensures that operational goals for patient volume and access, scheduling, service, operational efficiency, and provider, staff and patient satisfaction are met. Ensure optimal use of the facility throughout all hours of operation by guiding onsite leadership regarding optimizing staffing ratios, patient density and use of clinical space.
• Monitors workflows, implements approved corrective measures and adjusts as needed. Ensures that staff is engaged and trained to execute remedy as appropriate.
• Monitor clinic manager dashboard including, but not limited to: Finance, Front Desk, Scheduling, Referrals, In Basket management, etc. Monitor all work queues for completion as they apply to practice operations.
• Serves as liaison between departmental and clinical management and representatives. Develops and maintains good productive and collaborative relationships.
• Collaborates with other practice sites and provide cross coverage as needed.
• Functions as an EPIC "Super User" all aspects of front-end components of application to provide guidance to providers and support staff. Identifies opportunities to develop key staff into SMEs to create sustainability in EPIC related workflows.
• Serves as on-call administrator for assigned sites as needed.
• Collaborates with revenue cycle optimization team to implement front-end measures in assigned FPO ambulatory clinical practice sites as needed.
• Collaborates with Ambulatory Facilities Operations on issues related to the physical environment of assigned sites and related support services, interfacing with other departments including IT and other associated vendors.
• Conducts regularly scheduled meetings with Supervisors and/or Managers and other Leads to develop new paths, procedures and approaches to maximize opportunities for performance and process improvement.
• Coaches others on setting team performance goals and standards that align with organizational strategy.
• Drives departmental organization, work priorities, workflow, and workforce responsibilities due to change in service scope, regional growth, and other variables.
• Communicate implications for staffing and operational efficiency with the Leadership and Practice Manager/Supervisor/Lead at each clinical site. Ensures patient care is optimized by balancing resources to support patient and provider needs across assigned sites.
• Performs other job duties as required and assigned.

Finance

• Participates in the development of annual personnel/direct expense budgets.
• Investigate and implement ways to control operating expenses.
• Analyze and uses economic, financial, market, and industry information to identify trends, assess current business strategies and results, and/or evaluate specific business opportunities; identifies trends and anticipates their impact.
• Systematically evaluates opportunities, targeting those with the greatest potential for producing positive business results.

Project Management & Reporting

• Contributes to/participates on projects as directed by Director. Identifies and recommends administrative planning and initiatives aimed at facilitating growth and improving operations and patient experience.
• Effectively manage and complete project tasks and milestones by using tracking/reporting tools.
• Assists with monthly and ad-hoc practice reports and dashboard.
• Utilizes database of patient activity, resource utilization, and budget variances; and identify trends and patterns for analysis and actions.
• Monitor all physician billing related dashboard and metrics, as related to practice operations.

Strategy

• Monitors key performance indicators and supports performance improvement initiatives at assigned
  practices, as needed. Continuously seeks and implements operational improvements. Utilizes a data
  driven methodology to monitor progress and client satisfaction. Utilizes electronic medical record
  dashboards and reports to monitor keep performance indicators of operational, clinical, quality and revenue cycle workflows to ensure a holistic view of the practice operation. Leads practice optimization and improvement strategies
• Research, propose, and develop tools to gauge performance, assess performance against benchmarks and support the formulation of goals to improve performance.
• Supports strategy for regional growth expansion, as needed.
• Implements strategies to support staff on executing FPO's strategic plans, in order to maintain service level standards and an exceptional client experience. Monitors effectiveness and ensures staff is prepared and support mechanisms are in place. Evaluate patient satisfaction survey results to identify trends and develops strategies to optimize patient satisfaction and service delivery.
• Identifies and implements strategies that support organizational goals and process improvement initiatives. Maximize employee adoption and measure effectiveness. Ensure communication of changes is cascaded throughout assigned clinical practices and feedback channels are in place. Ensures staff support system is in place. Works with management team to address any escalated concerns and identified risks as needed.
• Utilize tools for effective communication including informal and formal presentations for various audiences.
• Assist in the growth of the programs and practices by maintaining various utilization reports.

People

• Monitors and evaluates overall staff performance and productivity, and completes personnel actions as needed. Provides direct feedback to others; responds to staff issues quickly and directly. Leads the execution of recruitment, succession planning, professional development, and employee engagement for assigned teams.
• Clearly defines roles and relationships within the team; cultivating, strong working relationships among its members.
• Ensures compliance with Human Resources and departmental policies and procedures including local, state, federal and regulatory standards, as they apply to respective job functions.
• Promotes staff professionalism and performance with coaching, training and feedback. Mentors others in individual and team accountability, modeling behavior and demonstrating best practices/techniques.Demonstrates self-development and keeps current on a variety of clinical management, practice operations, and health care topics.
• Establishes a culture of coaching and mentoring to facilitate continuous professional development and maintain an efficient patient-centered environment ensuring accountability, quality patient care, and patient satisfaction. Identifies and mitigates any roadblocks to performance, evaluate effectiveness of development. Collaborates with HR to set objectives and/or develop remediation/action plans.

Compliance

• Leads the implementation of and compliance with policies, procedures, programs, protocols, and systems to provide an efficient and accurate patient encounter which improves the medical office's effectiveness and the quality of patient outcomes.
• Identifies opportunities to improve quality and/or safety compliance through collaboration and training.
• Ensures compliance with all regulatory agencies' and institutional policies and procedures for all staff. Keeps current on all organizational, regulatory compliance and patient privacy trainings policies (infection control, public safety, EH&S, HIPAA, OSHA, etc.) and successfully complete all required trainings.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent of education and experience.
• A minimum of 5 years of related experience, including experience managing and supervising others.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• Excellent organizational skills, time management, and the ability to set priorities among multiple
  competing objectives, tasks, and initiatives are required.
• Demonstrated intermediate or higher proficiency and/or understanding, knowledge, and experience in project development and implementation, process evaluation, and performance and operational improvement in a healthcare delivery system setting.
• Strong project management skills including planning and executing technical and operational project activities with cross-functional teams.
• Proficiency and/or understanding of data sets; extract, evaluate, clean, and summarize; conduct qualitative and quantitative data analysis and validation as applicable to areas of responsibility.
• Candidate must be well organized and be able to manage a demanding workload and moderately
  complex cases in an accurate and timely.
• Proficiency in problem assessment, and resolution and collaborative problem solving in complex, and interdisciplinary settings.
• Ability to communicate effectively in both oral and written form.
• This position requires the ability to interact positively, constructively, and effectively with patients, professional staff, providers, and organizational stakeholders.
• Must be able to create and deliver high-level communication presentations for senior leadership and other organizational stakeholders.
• Ability to lead and mentor team through new and changing situations. Demonstrate a professional and
  compassionate manner while conveying a positive image of FPO Operations.
• Must demonstrate leadership and relationship management skills, and manage conflicts with tact,
  sensitivity, and respect.
• Ability to work independently, follow through, and handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Ability to work collaboratively with a culturally diverse staff and patient/family population demonstrating tact and sensitivity in stressful situations.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word & Excel) or similar software is required and an ability and willingness to learn new systems and programs.
• Must be a motivated individual with a positive mindset and exceptional work ethic.
• Must successfully complete systems training requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• A Master's degree is preferred.
• Previous experience in healthcare operations and/or ambulatory clinical practice is preferred.

Competencies

Patient Facing Competencies

Minimum Proficiency Level

Accountability & Self-Management

Level 4 - Advanced

Adaptability to Change & Learning Agility

Level 3 - Intermediate

Communication

Level 3 - Intermediate

Customer Service & Patient-Centered

Level 4 - Advanced

Emotional Intelligence

Level 4 - Advanced

Problem Solving & Decision Making

Level 4 - Advanced

Productivity & Time Management

Level 4 - Advanced

Teamwork & Collaboration

Level 3 - Intermediate

Quality, Patient & Workplace Safety

Level 4 - Advanced

Leadership Competencies

Minimum Proficiency

Business Acumen & Vision Driver

Level 3 - Intermediate

Performance Management

Level 3 - Intermediate

Innovation & Organizational Development

Level 3 - Intermediate

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.