Associate Vice President, Ambulatory Operations

The Associate Vice President, Ambulatory Operations is responsible for strategizing and implementing innovative initiatives to drive the transformation and growth of OHSU’s Ambulatory enterprise.  Under the direction of the VP Ambulatory and OHSU Practice Plan, this key role will collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and execute strategies that enhance patient access, improve operational efficiency, and elevate the overall patient experience. The AVP is responsible for supporting operational leaders with the development of organization-wide best practices around ambulatory workflows, as well as the adoption and change management of those practices. The role will lead transformation efforts within Ambulatory care and facilitate operational and technical system design for ambulatory workflows in that domain. This includes implementation, design and daily operation of programs at OHSU as well as across our community based programs and with our partner hospitals. The AVP will keep apprised of best practices for healthcare process and technology and related fields in their area of responsibility.

 

This position will report to the Vice President of Ambulatory and will work collaboratively with

physician leaders, operational leaders, department leaders, information systems teams, legal and compliance representatives, vendors, community partners and other key stakeholders to build and maintain a successful program that contributes to provider and care team joy of practice and generates positive ROI for OHSU ambulatory.

 

In addition, AVP of Ambulatory Transformation will support day to day outpatient operations across our network of programs in OHSU Health emphasizing safe, high quality, patient-centered, cost effective and integrated care by collaborating effectively with physician and department leadership. OHSU Ambulatory consists of over 97+ clinical sites across Portland metro and Oregon with annual visit volumes exceeding one million.

 

The position requires strong leadership and influence to ensure departments and practice managers alignment with the health system's strategic goals and approved business plans.

Key Responsibilities & Performance Standards:

 

Operational

• Demonstrates accountability and responsibility for day-to-day operations of outpatient services with 24-hour accountability for emergencies
• Support VP Ambulatory in the development of operational goals and objectives for outpatient clinics and implements strategies and tactics to achieve objectives across the health system.
• Facilitates ambulatory wide communication and readiness through huddle structure, Ambulatory Clinics Management Group (ACMG) and other broad communications
• Develops and/or implements institutional policies and procedures to enhance efficient and effective operations.
• Implements integrations of ambulatory care with overall OHSU Health delivery system including clinic expansions and collaborations.
• Enhances operational effectiveness, emphasizing cost containment without jeopardizing patient care priorities, improvement, innovation or quality of care.

Strategy

• Participates in the development and implementation of the long-range goals and objectives of Ambulatory practice.
• Translates System wide strategic plans into operational action plans.
• Work collaboratively with the Office of Digital Health to expand and optimize digital ambulatory encounters and remote access to healthcare.
• Lead modernization of ambulatory care via patient self-service tools and communication methods

Access

• Support Ambulatory by implementing and measuring clinic utilization metrics that help expand and improve patient access.
• Leverage industry benchmarking to analyze OHSU access in preparation for clinics moving into the connected care center
• Combine provider productivity data with referral demand to help departments plan for provider recruitment
• Creates and leads Ambulatory patient advisory group to help inform changes and opportunities to optimize access

Quality

• Partner with Ambulatory Quality infrastructure to improve overall performance ensuring safety, quality and consistency of practice relative to competency of ambulatory staff which is congruent with regulatory requirements, Magnet standards, etc.
• Conduct routine clinic site visits to help evaluate and ensure standard work implementation and improve employee wellbeing
• Strives toward best in class for quality as measured by Annual Ambulatory Scorecard.

Finance

• Develops and submits practice budgets to the Vice President of Ambulatory for review and approval.
• Monitors expenditures to ensure compliance within fiscal constraints and explains any variances.
• Reviews and evaluates the allocation of resources to ensure cost effective, efficient, productive, competitive operations while maintaining the delivery of quality care to patients.
• Develops business plans and SBARs for review with the Vice President of Ambulatory Care for any increase in staffing or programmatic growth

Leadership

• Models effective dyad relationship with clinical leaders
• Builds credibility and trust with department administrators and OHSU Practice Plan leadership to support the continuum of care.
• Oversee the recruitment, selection, development, engagement, motivation and retention of an engaged workforce, including but not limited to establishing performance plans aligned with organizational goals at all levels, providing timely and clear performance feedback recognizing accomplishment and taking corrective or disciplinary action, as required, to sustain high levels of performance.
• Contributes to the establishment of a learning environment which is conducive by providing educational and research experiences to students, residents, fellows, faculty and staff.
• Leads and attends in a variety of relevant OHSU Health, OPP and OHSU committees, work groups and meetings.

 

Required Qualifications:

• Graduate degree in Health Care, Business Administration or a related field
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare, with a focus on ambulatory services and patient access in an academic medical center or large healthcare organization.
• Comprehensive understanding of ambulatory care operations, access management, and healthcare industry trends.
• Proven track record in strategic planning, financial management, and achieving operational excellence.
• Strong leadership and team-building skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate diverse teams.
• Experience in driving change and innovation within a complex healthcare environment.
• Familiarity with academic medical center settings, faculty practice plans, and research integration is highly desirable
• Broad knowledge of modern healthcare and business administration, systems, practices and principles.
• Advanced quantitative knowledge necessary to analyze data and make informed decisions.
• Effective managerial and administrative capabilities as applied to the management of multiple programs and clinics.

 

Effective organizational, planning, controlling, and project management abilities to include:

• Effective leadership abilities
• Strategic thinking, planning and problem solving
• Developing goals and priorities for large healthcare organizations
• Superior communication skills, both in writing and verbal presentations.
• Ability to function in a fast paced and changing environment with multiple priorities and objectives.

Unclassified Benefits:

• Comprehensive health care plans. Covered 100% for full-time employees and 88% for dependents for .9 FTE and higher.
• $25K of term life insurance provided at no cost to the employee
• Two separate above market pension plans to choose from
• Paid time off- 208 hours per year (full-time), prorated for part-time
• Extended illness bank- 64 hours per year, prorated for part-time
• 9 paid holidays per year
• Three weeks of paid parental leave
• Adoption assistance program (up to 5k)
• Substantial Tri-met and C-Tran discounts
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Innovative Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

 

 

Number of employees this position supervises:

• 4 Direct 
• 150 indirect and, practice managers and clinical staff

Oregon Health & Science University values a diverse and culturally competent workforce. We are proud of our commitment to being an equal opportunity, affirmative action organization that does not discriminate against applicants on the basis of any protected class status, including disability status and protected veteran status. Individuals with diverse backgrounds and those who promote diversity and a culture of inclusion are encouraged to apply. To request reasonable accommodation contact the Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Department at 503-494-5148 or aaeo@ohsu.edu.