Senior Director, Operations - Psychiatry

MedAmerica•Sacramento, CA

1d•$153,380 - $199,395•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Director, Operations – Psychiatry leads and manages the psychiatry and behavioral health operations team across Vituity practices and programs. The role is accountable for day-to-day operational performance, specialty strategy, financial results, compliance, technology direction, and the development of a geographically distributed leadership team. The position is remote, nationwide, and works closely with executive, clinical, IT, recruiting, consulting, implementation, analytics, contracts, compliance, and growth teams. The director develops and implements operational playbooks and policies for program launches, stabilization, and wind-down; establishes performance metrics and scorecards; and oversees productivity, patient throughput, length of stay, census, bed utilization, staffing, credentialing, billing, safety reporting, and readmissions. The role supports compliance with applicable behavioral health accreditation, CMS, state licensing, contractual, and client requirements. The position sets the strategic direction for psychiatry technology, sponsors technology initiatives, advances data and analytics capabilities, and leads strategy for adoption of AI tools. It provides performance oversight, coaching, professional development, succession planning, and hiring and performance input for direct reports. The role also manages the specialty P&L, operating budget, vendor relationships, and financial and operational risks; integrates new practices and programs; supports new-contract proposals; and represents operations in leadership forums and strategic initiatives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Healthcare Management, Public Health, or a related field.
8–10 years of progressive operations management experience, including leadership of multi-level teams.
At least five years of experience in psychiatry or behavioral health, or a combination of education and experience demonstrating the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Strong knowledge of healthcare management, ideally including hospital-based and physician specialty management.
Working knowledge of inpatient and outpatient behavioral health delivery models, including crisis stabilization, consult-liaison, and telepsychiatry.
Familiarity with involuntary hold and civil commitment processes and the regulatory environment governing psychiatric care.
Knowledge of physicians’ clinical, management, and leadership roles in healthcare and ability to help physician group clients develop a competitive advantage.
Ability to rapidly assess needs, deliver solutions, and deploy resources to address problem areas.
Knowledge of behavioral health payer contracting and utilization-review dynamics and their impact on physician specialties.
Knowledge of performance measures and medical-legal considerations affecting psychiatric and behavioral health practice, including revenue cycle management, payer contracting, clinical standards, restraint and seclusion, and patient safety events.
Strong analytical, conceptualization, collaborative management, and interpersonal skills.
Effective verbal and written communication skills, including persuasive communication at all levels.
Strong knowledge of computer systems, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook).
Ability to work with physician partners and build effective practice service teams.
Ability to motivate and develop others.
Ability to stay organized while multitasking in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Management, Public Health, or a related field.
Lean certification.
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Experience in healthcare, physician specialty management, and/or multi-location operations.
Experience in a hospital or inpatient behavioral health setting.

Responsibilities

Lead and manage the psychiatry and behavioral health operations team across practices and programs.
Own day-to-day operational performance and drive accountability to patient volume, average length of stay, and quality benchmarks.
Develop and execute operational playbooks for new program launches, unit stabilization, and wind-down.
Identify operational efficiencies and establish a best-specialty approach for defined operational areas.
Establish and implement operating policies and procedures that support regulatory, accreditation, CMS, state licensing, and client compliance.
Set the specialty’s strategic vision, objectives, policies, and procedures, and implement programs to improve operations.
Collaborate with internal consulting and implementation teams on start-up processes and practice performance.
Develop and monitor specialty performance metrics and scorecards.
Monitor psychiatric provider productivity targets, including encounter and RVU benchmarks by practice and care setting.
Oversee length of stay and throughput across inpatient psychiatric units and crisis stabilization programs, and track census, admissions and discharges, bed utilization, and coverage ratios.
Ensure credentialing and privileging timelines are met for psychiatric providers.
Partner with billing and coding teams to monitor charge capture, denials, and collections, accounting for payer mix and prior-authorization and utilization-review requirements.
Oversee incident-reporting compliance and peer-review participation; monitor staffing ratios and coverage risks; and track readmissions and escalate adverse trends.
Set the strategic direction for psychiatry technology, including EHR and behavioral health documentation systems, telepsychiatry platforms, crisis and triage tools, and data integration platforms.
Sponsor technology initiatives and partner with IT on roadmaps, vendor decisions, and implementation plans.
Develop reporting infrastructure and analytics capabilities to support performance monitoring and strategic decisions.
Drive strategy for team adoption and implementation of AI tools for operations.
Provide direction, performance oversight, and professional development for direct and indirect reports; build leadership bench strength and succession plans; and coach leaders.
Partner with recruiting leadership to build and sustain an operations talent pipeline and foster accountability, continuous improvement, and collaboration.
Lead and review team work to deliver program initiatives and operational plans within schedule and budget; provide performance feedback and input to employment decisions for direct reports.
Manage the specialty P&L and operations budget, including practice and program performance, vendor costs, and stipends.
Manage key vendor relationships and contracts, including telepsychiatry platforms, staffing agencies, and scheduling tools.
Identify cost inefficiencies and address financial and operational risks; develop business cases for resources, positions, and investments.
Lead integration of new practices and programs into the Vituity operating model, aligning culture, processes, and systems.
Collaborate with the growth team on proformas and proposals for new contracts, and partner with analytics, contracts, compliance, and clinical leadership on growth and launches.
Represent operations in leadership forums and partner with the executive team on strategic initiatives.

Benefits

Superior health plan options.
Dental, vision, HSA/FSA, life, and AD&D coverage.
401(k) retirement savings plan with a $1.20 match for every dollar up to 6%, plus discretionary profit-sharing contributions; matching eligibility begins the January following 18 months of service.
Generous paid time off starting at 3–4 weeks annually.
Student loan refinancing discounts.
Professional and career development program.
Employee assistance program (EAP) and travel assistance.
Wellness program, including monthly wellness events and activities.
Flexible work hours.
Trainings to support professional growth.
Virtual community events, meet-and-greets, seminars, and team-building activities.
Eligibility to participate in the annual corporate Success Sharing bonus program, based on company performance.