Clinical Operations Director

firsthand is changing the way individuals living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) get care – by putting them at the center of everything we do. Our peer led model aims to build trust with these individuals, many of whom have been underserved, stigmatized, deprioritized and have very often lost trust in the systems intended to serve them. Our holistic approach includes partnering with our team of peer recovery specialists, licensed social workers and nurse practitioners, and focuses on meeting them where they are and walking with them side by side, as a trusted guide, partner, and first call, on their journeys’ to wellness. 

Our aim is to not only improve lives, but also improve the economics for managed care plans and states responsible for providing care to this community. This enables us to build solutions that scale and, as a result, change the way our society supports those most impacted by SMI.

We are building a team of deeply passionate problem-solvers who are courageous enough to take on one of the country’s most challenging healthcare problems. Those who are up for the task will be rewarded with deeply mission-oriented workdays, mentorship from a similarly motivated team, and a supportive culture that prioritizes learning, creativity, and fun.

Each of firsthand’s community teams include a licensed Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant (AKA Health Guide) who leads the medical aspects of team-based care for individuals that firsthand serves. The Health Guide (HG) is responsible for whole person assessment and management of our vulnerable population, collaborating closely with external primary care and behavioral health providers, as well as an internal team of firsthand Guides (peers) and Community Resources Guides (social workers). They are supported by Health Guide Associates (HGA, Medical Assistants), who perform much of the related administrative work and are supervised by the Clinical Operations Director.

Health guides provide comprehensive assessment, care coordination, disease management, transitional care for persons not yet reengaged with ongoing primary care/BH care and occasional urgent care. Health guides do not provide ongoing full-service primary care or behavioral healthcare.

The Clinical Operations Director is responsible for maintaining and monitoring the work processes of the HGs and HGAs in particular, and clinical care delivery by firsthand in general. This includes performance management and benchmarking with KPIs, and using the results of those KPIs to guide both individual performance improvement and process redesign. The Clinical Operations Director supervises the Health Guide Associates.

The Clinical Operations Director reports to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and works closely with the rest of the corporate clinical team. The Clinical Operations Director collaborates with the local Directors of Community Operations and Guide Team Leads who supervise other members of the community team and are responsible for engagement and community operations. The Clinical Operations Director collaborates with the cross functional organizational leaders who are responsible for appropriate clinical documentation, clinical cost savings, and eligibility for disability.

As Clinical Operations Director you will:

• Monitor and provide feedback on HG and HGA KPIs including:
• Clinic schedule throughput and waiting lists for visits
• Completion of referrals to ongoing primary care and behavioral healthcare providers
• On-call coverage and performance
• Emergency Department diversion reporting HEDIS gap closures 
• Implement and monitor delivery of clinical interventions for disease management
• Supervise the Health Guide Associates
• Oversee health guide scheduling and productivity
• Identify necessary EMR automations to improve HG efficiency and workflow, collaborating with the Clinical Product and Technology team to implement
• Coordinate with the community team directors and team leads regarding health guide services and collaboration
• Work closely with firsthand's corporate clinical team to develop and monitor care delivery and clinical quality improvements

You will be a good fit if you have:

• Passion for improving healthcare delivery processes and quality
• Managerial skills to oversee Medical Assistants 
• Comfort working as part of a multidisciplinary team, and enjoy mixed roles and duties - this is a mix of clinical care, data analytics, and work process improvement
• Comfort working in collaboratively both with nurse practitioners and with a broad range of colleagues
• Empathy, compassion, and approachability
• Excellent listening, communication, and interpersonal skills
• Desire to help people in need and support their path to wellness
• Cultural humility, knowledge of trauma informed care, and social determinants of health
• Desire to perform data driven care
• Desire to implement and deliver care that is integrated across chronic medical conditions, behavioral health conditions, inpatient settings, and outpatient settings
• Intermediate computer skills, familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite
• Ability to adapt rapidly to variations in team culture and process
• Ability to rapidly develop new professional working relationships with colleagues and patients
• Flexibility, and the willingness/ability to travel on a regular basis

The experience you bring to this role includes:

• 5+ years Operations experience in healthcare delivery managing teams of clinicians
• Analytics experience, including the use of Business Intelligence tools, ideally including some work with medical claims
• Experience in an organization undergoing rapid change and growth
• Experience in implementing and operating standardized performance measurement and work processes across a diverse range of teams and communities
• Experience bridging clinical and business perspectives and cultures
• Care management and coordination

firsthand Benefits:

For Full Time employees, our compensation package includes base, equity and a bonus potential. Our benefits include physical and mental health, dental, vision, 401(k) with a match, 16 weeks parental leave for either parent, flexible vacation, and a supportive culture.

We firmly believe that great candidates for this role may not meet 100% of the criteria listed in this posting. We encourage you to apply anyway - we look forward to getting to know you.

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer sponsorship at this time.