VP of Clinical Operations

U.S. Urology Partners•Syracuse, NY

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

The VP of Clinical Operations provides direct leadership, coaching, and accountability for Practice Managers, establishing clear expectations for operational, financial, clinical, people, and service performance across practices. This role involves conducting regular operating and performance reviews, identifying and addressing underperforming practices, and ensuring consistent operating standards while recognizing individual practice needs. The VP maintains visibility into significant operational issues, intervenes or escalates when necessary, and ensures practices effectively execute priorities, policies, programs, and operating standards. The position also offers leadership and accountability for practice-level financial performance, requiring Practice Managers to understand and manage their P&Ls, and partnering with Finance to evaluate key performance drivers. The VP holds Practice Managers accountable for performance against budget and targets, identifies opportunities to improve profitability and efficiency, and supports budgeting, forecasting, and planning. Additionally, the role leads company-wide efforts to improve patient access, appointment availability, scheduling efficiency, patient flow, and capacity utilization, establishing and monitoring relevant measures. The VP partners with Practice Managers and physicians to address barriers to access and productivity, optimizes staffing and workflows, and ensures practices are prepared for growth and changes in demand. The role also involves partnering with clinical program leaders to implement and scale new services. A key aspect is building strong, collaborative relationships with physicians and physician leadership, resolving operational and clinical barriers, and serving as a senior operational escalation point. The VP provides enterprise leadership for clinical operations, establishing consistent standards and workflows, and partnering to improve clinical operations. People leadership includes establishing competencies, managing performance, coaching, and developing Practice Managers, identifying leadership gaps, and building a pipeline of leaders. The VP also oversees workforce performance, quality, patient safety, and regulatory readiness, promoting a culture of proactive identification and escalation of concerns. Operational excellence and continuous improvement are driven through standardized practices, data analysis, and leading cross-functional initiatives. The role translates company strategic priorities into practice-level execution, leading change initiatives and partnering with functional leaders. The VP of Clinical Operations reports to the Chief Operating Officer and is accountable for performance across the practice network, focusing on operational and financial performance, patient access, experience, provider capacity, Practice Manager development, workforce productivity, physician partnership, quality, safety, and strategic execution.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in nursing, healthcare administration, business administration, or a related field.
Minimum of 10 years of progressive healthcare operations leadership experience, including significant responsibility for physician practice or ambulatory operations.
Minimum of 5 years in a senior leadership role with responsibility for multiple locations and teams.
Demonstrated experience directly leading and developing managers or directors.
Strong understanding of physician practice operations, clinical workflows, patient access, staffing, financial performance, quality, and regulatory requirements.
Demonstrated experience with practice-level financial management, budgeting, and P&L performance.
Proven ability to improve operational performance across multiple locations.
Strong physician relationship and stakeholder management skills.
Demonstrated success developing leaders, managing performance, and building accountable teams.
Strong analytical and financial acumen with demonstrated ability to use data to drive decisions.
Demonstrated ability to lead significant organizational change and performance improvement.
Excellent leadership, communication, problem-solving, and executive presence.
Ability to travel regularly across clinical locations.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in healthcare administration, business administration, nursing, public health, or a related field.
RN or other relevant clinical credentials.
Experience in urology, specialty physician practice, oncology, ambulatory surgery, or another procedural specialty.
Experience within a large physician-led or physician-partnership organization.
Experience with organizational transformation, multisite standardization, practice integration, or growth.

Responsibilities

Provide direct leadership, coaching, and accountability for Practice Managers.
Establish clear expectations for operational, financial, clinical, people, and service performance across practices.
Conduct regular operating and performance reviews with Practice Managers and ensure appropriate action plans are developed and executed.
Identify underperforming practices and work with Practice Managers and physicians to address performance gaps.
Establish consistent operating standards while recognizing appropriate differences in individual practice needs.
Maintain visibility into significant operational issues and intervene or escalate when necessary.
Ensure practices effectively execute priorities, policies, programs, and operating standards.
Provide leadership and accountability for practice-level financial performance across practices.
Ensure Practice Managers understand and actively manage their practice P&Ls.
Partner with Finance and Practice Managers to evaluate revenue, expenses, labor, productivity, volumes, and other key performance drivers.
Hold Practice Managers accountable for performance against budget and established financial targets.
Identify opportunities to improve practice profitability, resource utilization, labor efficiency, and operational performance.
Support annual budgeting, forecasting, and operating planning.
Evaluate staffing and operational investments based on financial, clinical, and operational impact.
Lead company-wide efforts to improve patient access, appointment availability, scheduling efficiency, patient flow, and capacity utilization.
Establish and monitor access and operational performance measures across practices.
Partner with Practice Managers and physicians to identify and address barriers to patient access and provider productivity.
Optimize staffing, clinical support models, provider schedules, and workflows to improve capacity.
Ensure practices are operationally prepared to support growth, new physicians, new services, and changes in patient demand.
Partner with clinical program and operational leaders to successfully implement and scale new services across clinics.
Build strong, collaborative relationships with physicians and physician leadership.
Partner with physicians to identify and resolve operational and clinical barriers affecting patient care, access, productivity, and experience.
Ensure Practice Managers develop effective partnerships with the physicians they support.
Serve as a senior operational escalation point for significant physician concerns.
Facilitate alignment between physician priorities and organizational operating expectations.
Support physicians through operational changes, practice growth, and implementation of new programs and services.
Provide enterprise leadership for clinical operations across clinical practices.
Establish consistent clinical operating standards, workflows, and expectations across locations.
Partner with Practice Managers and Clinical Leads to improve clinical workflows, patient flow, staffing, productivity, and provider support.
Identify unnecessary variation and implement scalable best practices.
Ensure clinical teams have the training, tools, workflows, and resources to effectively support physicians and patients.
Lead efforts to optimize clinical staffing models, role design, skill mix, and workforce deployment.
Partner with the Director, Clinical Programs to operate new clinical programs and care models.
Establish clear expectations and competencies for Practice Managers and clinical leaders.
Lead the calibration, performance management, coaching, and development of Practice Managers.
Identify leadership and competency gaps and establish development or performance improvement plans as appropriate.
Build a strong pipeline of operational and clinical leaders and establish succession plans for key roles.
Partner with People Operations on workforce planning, recruitment, retention, performance management, and associate engagement.
Oversee implementation and development of the Clinical Lead and PAR Lead structure across clinical practices.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and patient-centered service.
Provide strategic oversight of clinical and non-clinical workforce performance across practices.
Monitor staffing, productivity, vacancies, turnover, overtime, agency utilization, and labor efficiency.
Ensure staffing levels and deployment appropriately reflect provider schedules, patient volumes, clinical complexity, and operational needs.
Identify opportunities to improve workflows, role clarity, skill mix, and labor productivity.
Partner with Practice Managers and People Operations to address workforce challenges and improve associate retention and engagement.
Provide senior operational leadership for quality, patient safety, and regulatory readiness across clinical practices.
Ensure practices maintain appropriate standards and remain consistently survey-ready.
Partner with the Field Compliance & Operations Manager, Practice Managers, physicians, and other leaders to identify and resolve quality, safety, and compliance gaps.
Ensure corrective actions are implemented and sustained when deficiencies are identified.
Monitor quality and patient safety trends and ensure appropriate operational response.
Promote a culture in which associates proactively identify and escalate safety and compliance concerns.
Establish standardized operating practices and performance expectations across clinics where appropriate.
Use operational, financial, workforce, quality, and patient experience data to identify performance variation and improvement opportunities.
Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve practice efficiency and effectiveness.
Develop and maintain performance dashboards and operating reviews that provide visibility into practice performance.
Identify successful practices and ensure effective solutions are scaled across clinics.
Ensure organizational initiatives are implemented consistently and sustained over time.
Translate company strategic priorities into practice-level execution.
Lead significant operational and organizational change initiatives across the practice network.
Develop implementation plans, accountability structures, and performance measures for major initiatives.
Partner effectively with USUP functional leaders and shared services while representing operational needs and priorities.
Support transitions of functions currently provided through external or transitional service arrangements and help establish sustainable operating capabilities.
Participate as a member of the affiliate's senior leadership team and contribute to broader organizational strategy and decision-making.