Chief Operating Officer

600 W Fulton St, Chicago, IL 60661, USA Req #1505

Monday, January 29, 2024

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. We do not discriminate for any reason. We welcome talented individuals who believe in our mission, drive the organization forward, and recognize the positive impact they can bring to our communities.

ACCESS Community Health Network is searching for our next COO

Reporting to the chief executive officer of ACCESS Community Health Network, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) will help drive value reimbursement, including building new clinical care models that enhance exceptional patient experience and care quality across all 35+ ACCESS facilities. The COO will build and lead clinical and non-clinical teams to continue improvements in operational excellence and to optimize older adult services and other key service lines. The COO will be a key executive leadership member responsible for fostering collaboration between departments, staff leadership, and other services to support continuous improvement in patient outcomes.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Strategic Planning: Collaborating with the CEO and executive team, the COO helps develop and execute strategic plans that align with the organization's mission and goals. The COO contributes insights on operational capabilities and constraints.
• Operational Leadership & Excellence: The COO is responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction to the health centers, clinical and other patient support services and programs, facility, and other related administrative functions. The COO is also responsible for providing a consistent trauma-informed and culturally appropriate patient and staff experience across the network.
• Quality and Patient Safety: The COO is accountable for maintaining and improving the quality of care, patient safety and risk management within the organization. This includes implementing “best in class” protocols, procedures, and best practices to ensure high standards of patient quality outcomes that improve health equity, population health, and staff experience.
• Resource Management: The COO oversees the allocation and management of resources such as staffing, facilities, equipment, and supplies to ensure smooth and efficient operations. This includes the oversight of ACCESS health center facilities to ensure an optimal patient experience.
• Process Improvement: The COO continuously identifies areas for operational improvement and implements strategies to streamline processes, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance the patient experience.
• Financial Management: The COO works in collaboration with the CFO to create an operations budget that is aligned with the organization's strategic plan. The COO is also responsible for monitoring the organization's financial health, which includes forecasting, managing costs, optimizing revenue streams, and ensuring compliance with financial regulations.
• Regulatory Compliance: The COO ensures that ACCESS operates within regulatory frameworks and meets all legal and compliance requirements at the local, state, and federal levels.
• Stakeholder Engagement: The COO maintains positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including health care providers, administrative staff, patients, vendors, and community partners. The COO supports ongoing relationships with key MCO partners in collaboration with the ACCESS Finance department.
• Technology and Innovation: The COO must embrace and assist in the integration of new technologies and innovative solutions to enhance ACCESS Model of Care by improving health care delivery and operational efficiency. This includes participating in the optimization of the ACCESS electronic health record (EPIC), telemedicine, and other digital tools such as AI, robotics, and wearable devices.
• Emergency Preparedness: The COO must mitigate operational risks and develop and implement plans for responding to emergencies and disasters to ensure continuity of care and the safety of patients and staff.
• Human Resources Management: The COO assists HR in the oversight of the personnel management of ACCESS operations staff, including employee engagement and inclusion, recruitment and onboarding, development and succession, organizational design, performance evaluation, and retention strategies for health care professionals and support staff.

Key Opportunities and Needs

• With the CMO, develops and maintains a standardized model of care throughout the 35 health centers
• As ACCESS shifts from fee-for-service to a value-based care model; the COO will be instrumental in designing, leading and managing this transition
• ACCESS seeks to diversify its portfolio from Medicaid-centric to Medicare, the COO will partner with the CMO to redesign care models to adapt to this objective
• The COO will be the architect of the organization’s growth and structural change; developing infrastructure and assessing, strengthening, and building the capabilities of the operations team to effect this evolution.

The preferred candidate for the COO position is an experienced, talented healthcare executive with ten plus years’ experience in a healthcare organization, ideally within a large multi-site environment; partnering with executive leadership teams, cross-functional departments and staff functions. The COO will be a collaborative and mature leader able to manage conflict constructively, lead with acumen and influence, while developing meaningful relationships built on mutual trust.

In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, we would highlight the following:

Professional Experience and Qualifications

• Involvement in an organization committed to public service, with a strong sense of mission to serve its communities
• Expertise in organizational effectiveness, continuous improvement, change management and performance management
• Experience managing cross-functional responsibilities, workflows, budgets, and setting strategic and operational plans and overall standardization
• Ability to influence culture and engagement while sustaining results during times of transition and growth
• Brings deep experience leading clinical functions and back-office processes, systems and administrative responsibilities; possesses a balance of clinical knowledge with business expertise, strategy, and process
• Proven experience with transforming business models, preferably in value-based care driven organizations
• Track record of developing innovative strategies based on cost benefit analysis
• Has identified and developed new business ventures / services to diversify revenue streams
• Experience in the use of data analytics and metrics in patient care outcomes and staff performance
• Financial/Operational/Technical acumen
• Ability to partner with Board, Clinicians, Executive leaders and shift to clinical staff level employees
• Problem solving orientation
• Expertise in public speaking, aligning key messages and engaging with government officials and key strategic vendors
• Experience in a facility/system that uses EPIC as its EMR preferred

ACCESS is a Network of Federally Qualified Health Centers treating patients on the frontlines of community-based health care. Depending on position applied/being recruited for , candidates may be required to be vaccinated against communicable diseases , and provide supporting documentation proving that they are properly vaccinated, or apply for religious and/or medical vaccination exemption as a part of the application process.