Director of Central Verification Office (CVO) & Medical Staff Services

UT Southwestern Medical Center•Texas, TX

About The Position

The Director, Central Verification Office (CVO) provides strategic and operational leadership for a multi-hospital centralized document intake and verification function supporting provider credentialing across UT Southwestern’s Health System. This role is accountable for designing, standardizing, and executing enterprise-wide processes that ensure credentialing files are complete, accurate, consistent, and “ready for review” prior to credentialing workflows and primary source verification activities. The Director drives service excellence for providers and internal stakeholders, ensures compliance with applicable accreditation/regulatory requirements, and leads performance improvement initiatives to reduce credentialing cycle times and strengthen audit readiness.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required (Health Administration, Business Administration, Nursing, Public Health, or related field)
Minimum 7 years progressive experience in medical staff services, credentialing operations, provider onboarding, or related healthcare administrative functions
Minimum 3 years leadership experience managing teams, operations, or programs with measurable performance outcomes
Demonstrated experience leading complex, high-volume, compliance-sensitive workflows across multiple sites or entities

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred (MHA, MBA, MPH, or related field)
Leading or implementing a Central Verification Office (CVO) or centralized credentialing intake function
Strong knowledge of credentialing/privileging workflows and provider file readiness requirements
Experience with credentialing platforms and document management systems (e.g., MD-Staff, symplr, VerityStream, Credence, or similar)
Professional certification preferred: CPMSM and/or CPCS (or commitment to obtain within a defined timeframe)
Demonstrated ability to lead and standardize complex operations across multiple hospitals/entities.
Strong understanding of credentialing documentation requirements, file quality standards, and audit readiness practices.
Proven ability to create metrics-driven operations and drive measurable improvements in cycle time, quality, and customer experience.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to influence and align stakeholders across clinical and administrative leadership.
Strong analytical skills with ability to interpret data, identify trends, and implement corrective actions.
Sound judgment, professionalism, and ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive provider and credentialing records.
Strong project management and change management capabilities.

Responsibilities

Establishes the vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap for the Central Verification Office (CVO) to support system-wide provider credentialing needs.
Develops and maintains standardized policies, procedures, service-level expectations, and operational definitions for “complete” and “ready-for-review” files across all supported hospitals/entities.
Partners with hospital and network Professional Staff Services, Medical Staff Leadership, Compliance, Legal (as needed), Quality, and operational leaders to align CVO processes with organizational goals and credentialing governance structures.
Leads standardization efforts across credentialing document requirements, forms, checklists, templates, naming conventions, and indexing/document management practices.
Oversees daily operations of the CVO, ensuring timely collection, intake, organization, and readiness of documentation for initial appointment, reappointment, and other credentialing actions (e.g., privilege changes, new locations, coverage/telemedicine as applicable).
Ensures robust workflows for follow-up, escalation, discrepancy resolution, and file routing across multiple facilities and provider types.
Establishes consistent provider-facing communication standards and customer service expectations; monitors stakeholder satisfaction and addresses service concerns.
Implements workload management practices, including queue monitoring, staffing models, cross-training plans, and business continuity coverage to ensure consistent throughput.
Ensures CVO operations support compliance with applicable standards and requirements (e.g., medical staff bylaws/policies, accreditation expectations, payer-related documentation needs where applicable, and internal audit requirements).
Establishes and monitors a quality assurance program for document accuracy, completeness, and consistency; identifies trends and leads corrective/preventive action plans.
Oversees audit readiness activities, including tracer support, document retrievability, standardized record retention practices, and corrective actions following internal/external audits.
Identifies and mitigates operational risks (e.g., missing documentation, inconsistent timelines, incomplete explanations, expired items) and ensures clear escalation pathways to credentialing leadership.
Develops and manages key performance indicators (KPIs) and service-level metrics to drive outcomes (e.g., document turnaround time, file completeness rate, aging backlog, first-pass acceptance rate, provider responsiveness, and cycle-time contributions).
Leads Lean/process improvement initiatives to reduce bottlenecks and rework, improve provider experience, and enhance transparency of file status.
Presents operational performance, risks, trends, and improvement plans to executive leadership, credentialing committees, and governance groups as requested.
Recruits, hires, coaches, and develops CVO leadership and staff; sets performance expectations, conducts evaluations, and ensures accountability for service quality and productivity.
Builds a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and customer service; ensures staff training on policies, workflows, and systems.
Establishes competency standards, onboarding plans, and ongoing education for CVO team members.
Develops and manages the CVO operating budget, including staffing, technology, training, and related operational expenses.
Identifies opportunities for cost-effective operations through standardization, technology enablement, workload balancing, and reduction of redundant work across hospitals/entities.
Evaluates and supports business cases for technology enhancements (e.g., credentialing platforms, document management tools, automation, provider portals) that improve efficiency and compliance.
Oversees accurate data capture and reporting within credentialing and onboarding systems; ensures appropriate access controls and confidentiality safeguards.
Partners with IT and system administrators to optimize workflows, reduce manual steps, and support integration of document intake with credentialing and verification processes.
Ensures consistent application of document version control, indexing, retention, and retrieval practices across all supported entities.
Collaborates with Professional Staff Services/Medical Staff Services, Credentialing leadership, Medical Staff Office teams, provider departments/practices, hospital administrators, compliance, legal (as needed), quality, and payer enrollment/managed care partners (as applicable).
Supports multi-hospital, multi-entity operations and a broad range of provider types (e.g., physicians and allied health professionals).
Performs other duties as assigned